David Greenwald, Co-Chair

David J. Greenwald is chairman emeritus of Fried Frank. He rejoined the Firm in 2013, after nearly 20 years at Goldman Sachs, and served as chairman of the Firm for ten years until he retired in 2024.

Under his leadership, Fried Frank focused on a strategy of advising clients on their most complex and challenging matters. Mr. Greenwald has been quoted in numerous publications regarding the Firm’s strategy and financial performance, including in The American Lawyer, Bloomberg Big Law Business, Forbes, The Lawyer, LEADERS Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Greenwald began his career at Fried Frank in 1983 and served as a corporate partner from 1990 to 1994, principally representing private equity clients and clients engaged in mergers or other business combination transactions. He joined Goldman Sachs' legal department in 1994, and was named managing director in 1998 and partner in 2000, later serving as international general counsel and a deputy general counsel.

Mr. Greenwald is Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University.  He also serves on the Dean’s Council of Columbia Law School and on the Boards of Directors of New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Legal Aid Society (Chair, Finance Committee), Lenox Hill Neighborhood House (Chair, Audit Committee) and the Lincoln Center Theater (Chair, Audit Committee).  He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  In addition, he was previously the Chair of the Wharton Alumni Executive Board, Deputy Chairman of the Financial Markets Law Committee in the United Kingdom and Co-Chair of the PLI Annual Institute on Securities Regulation in Europe.  In 2017, the American Jewish Committee awarded Mr. Greenwald the Learned Hand Award in recognition of his leadership and service to the legal and broader communities.  Columbia Law School, in 2025, conferred on Mr. Greenwald its highest honor, the Medal for Excellence, which the School grants to alumni and faculty members who exemplify the character, intellect and social and professional responsibility it seeks to instill in its students.

He received a JD from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a BS, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.