Arthur F. Golden ’66, JD

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Arthur F. Golden
Arthur F. Golden ’66, JD
JD, Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell
Active Trustee: Dec. 2006-Dec. 2022 Adjunct Trustee: May 2005-Dec. 2006 

Mr. Golden is global co-chairman of Davis Polk’s mergers and acquisitions practice, the senior Davis Polk partner, and for nine years was a member of the firm’s Management Committee. He is also the senior independent member of the board of directors of Emerson Electric, where he sits on the Executive and Finance Committees and chaired the Corporate Governance Committee.

He regularly represents large multinational companies with respect to acquisition-related transactions, advises clients on corporate governance, shareholder activism and defensive matters, and is the senior partner in the firm’s practice in competition and antitrust matters, which include domestic and international mergers and acquisitions and antitrust counseling and litigation, both private and governmental (civil and criminal). Mr. Golden is global co-chairman of Davis Polk’s mergers and acquisitions practice, the senior Davis Polk partner, and for nine years was a member of the firm’s Management Committee. He is also the senior independent member of the board of directors of Emerson Electric, where he sits on the Executive and Finance Committees and chaired the Corporate Governance Committee. He regularly represents large multinational companies with respect to acquisition-related transactions, advises clients on corporate governance, shareholder activism and defensive matters, and is the senior partner in the firm’s practice in competition and antitrust matters, which include domestic and international mergers and acquisitions and antitrust counseling and litigation, both private and governmental (civil and criminal). He has also represented clients in various contested acquisition matters, and numerous federal grand jury investigations, including the investigations of trading practices with respect to U.S. government securities, the air cargo, vitamins, commercial tissue, and explosives industries, violations of U.S. export controls, and the ‘Ill-Wind’ criminal investigation into fraud in the Pentagon procurement process. He has successfully tried antitrust merger cases against the government and acted as one of the two lead negotiators for the U.S. tobacco industry in the effort to resolve, through legislation and settlements, the legal issues facing that industry. Mr. Golden has been recognized as a leader in the legal industry by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, IFLR100, Legal 500 U.S., Who’s Who Legal (Business, Competition, and Corporate Governance), Expert Guides (Competition & Antitrust, and Corporate Governance), and Best Lawyers – “Lawyer of the Year,” (Litigation-Antitrust, New York City, 2016). Mr. Golden graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1966 and in 1969 received his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the law review. Golden joined Davis Polk in 1969 and became a partner in 1978. In addition to his directorship of Emerson Electric, Mr. Golden has been a director of various other companies, including ESCO Electronics (member, executive committee; chairman, compensation committee), Burns International Services (member, executive and audit committees), and Allegiance (member, audit committee). He is a trustee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has served on the board of managers of the New York State Communities Aid Association. Updated 12/7/17
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