From serving in New York City government during a tumultuous economic period to helping shape many of the city's most important cultural and civic institutions in private practice, Gordon Davis has played a quiet but enduring role in the city's evolution. In this conversation, he reflects on the choices he made, the colleagues and clients who shaped his journey, and why he loves New York City.
Q: You spent some of the most formative years of your career in New York City government before entering private practice. How did that experience shape the lawyer you eventually became?
Gordon: When I graduated from Harvard Law School, I took what was considered a highly coveted associate position at a large Chicago law firm. But I wasn't much of a lawyer then, and I didn't really want to be one. So, I moved to New York and went into city government instead. I first worked as an assistant to Mayor John Lindsay, later served on the City Planning Commission, and then spent more than five years as Parks Commissioner under Mayor Koch. Looking back, those years in city government, especially as New York was working through its fiscal crisis, prepared me far better for my eventual legal career than my early years in private practice ever could.
Q: How did your career in private practice begin after you left city government?
Gordon: When I left the Parks Department, Peter Britell, who was a partner at Lord, Day & Lord, called and asked if I would join the firm as a partner. It came as a great shock to me that Peter recruited me. I still didn't think I was much of a lawyer, and I hadn't enjoyed practicing law. But my wife finally said to me, "Maybe you don't hate being a lawyer. Maybe you hate being a litigator." She was right. I switched from litigation to real estate, and that really began my private practice. Peter became a constant throughout my career, and I worked with him until the day he died. When Lord, Day & Lord dissolved in 1994, I joined LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, where I spent the next chapter of my career. LeBoeuf, however, struggled during the 2008 financial crisis, and by 2012 everyone was running for the nearest lifeboat.
Q: How did Venable eventually come onto your radar?
Gordon: As Dewey LeBoeuf was collapsing, we started looking for another firm, and Venable happened to be right across the street. Someone arranged an introduction, and we met with Jim Shea, who was chairman at the time. By the end of that meeting, we knew we'd do anything he asked. Jim didn't start by talking about money. He talked about collegiality, transparency, ethics, collaboration, and building the firm thoughtfully. I was skeptical at first, but everything he told us proved to be true. So, our whole team—Peter Britell, Suzanne St. Pierre, Sue Golden, Michael Phillipou, and the rest of us—packed up our offices, rolled our suitcases across the street, and joined Venable. We haven't looked back since.
Q: You've worked alongside many of the same colleagues for decades, representing some of New York's most respected cultural and civic institutions. How did your team build that practice, and how did one project lead to the next?
Gordon: It really began with Lincoln Center. I got to know some of the people on its board, and when they decided to build what became the Rose Building, they came to us and said, "We know you can do it." It was an extraordinarily ambitious development, with six different condominium units, each occupying a separate floor, multiple public and private stakeholders, and approvals that none of us had handled before. That project was really where I learned my craft. We became masters not just of the new land use and development rules, but of representing public entities. And that was a very big moment for us, because we found ourselves on the ground floor of many of New York's biggest projects. But we weren't representing the developer or the commercial real estate interests; we were representing the institution.
Q: That early success clearly established your team as the go-to counsel for some of the city's most complex institutional projects. What has it meant to you and your team to earn that level of trust over so many years?
Gordon: It's a wonderful experience to be a lawyer that people want to hire. For our real estate group, that's meant being entrusted with some extraordinary projects, not the kinds of matters people do every day, but places that become part of New York's fabric. We've had the privilege of working on the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, the new building at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the $600 million redevelopment of the U.S. Tennis Center, and, most recently, securing the approvals for the new Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'm 85 now, and less the lead lawyer than I once was. But it's immensely rewarding watching the younger lawyers carry the work forward.
Q: Looking back over all the projects you've worked on, are there any that were particularly meaningful to you?
Gordon: If I had to pick two favorite projects, they would be the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, which became the world's leading private research center dedicated solely to ending the epidemic that had devastated New York City, and the rebuilding of Ground Zero after 9/11. Those were the two projects that, to me, really made a difference to the city. You can build a new museum or another great institution, but these projects were about something bigger. My wife and I arrived in New York in 1968, built our lives here, and the city gave us so much. Being able to give something back during two of its toughest moments was an extraordinary privilege.
Q: After such a storied career, what advice would you offer to young lawyers just starting out?
Gordon: If I have one piece of advice for young lawyers, it's this: don't be afraid to take chances. The day I resigned from my law firm in Chicago and got on a plane to New York, I had no money and no real plan. Two weeks later, I had a job, a place to live, and a salary. The biggest decision isn't what firm you join, it's where you choose to live. Pick a place where you can thrive, where you'll be challenged, where you'll be appreciated for what you do well and criticized for what you don't. Choose a place where you can have an impact on the things that matter to you. For me, that meant New York. It's been a lot of hard work, but looking back, it all started with choosing the right city.
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