Selendy & Gay Adds Named Partners as N.Y. Trial Firm ‘Evolves’

Selendy & Gay, a litigation boutique spun off from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, will make Jennifer Selendy and Davis Elsberg named partners and change its name to Selendy Gay Elsberg, effective Feb. 14.

Selendy and Elsberg are among the 10 founding partners that left Quinn Emanuel in 2018 to start the firm along with named partners Philippe Selendy and Faith Gay. Selendy and Elsberg are currently co-managing partners of the firm, and fellow founding partner Maria Ginzburg will replace them as managing partner.

“It was inconceivable for me, coming out of law school wanting to work at a top firm, to ever work at a firm that had a woman’s name,” Selendy said. “There weren’t even many women partners.”

New York-based Selendy & Gay focuses on litigation and investigations and comprises more than 100 professionals and 50 lawyers, according to a Tuesday statement. The firm is known for its gender diversity and LGBTQ representation.

Selendy & Gay has represented clients such as the American Federation of Teachers, former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, McKinsey & Co., and Cerberus Capital Management, according to the firm’s website.

The firm has also provided pro bono legal services to the parents of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting victims, Elsberg told Bloomberg Law in October 2020.

“We’re entering a new phase of the firm’s evolution,” Elsberg told Bloomberg Law. “It takes a few years for associates to get to the level of seniority that means they’re up for partner. Now that we’re at our fourth year, we have large classes of strong associates that are getting to that point in their career.”

Selendy started her career with Cravath Swaine & Moore and was later a partner at Kirkland & Ellis before joining Quinn Emanuel. Elsberg was a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School while working at Quinn Emanuel, where he was co-chair of the firm’s investment fund practice.

Selendy and Elsberg describe themselves as general trial lawyers.

“We are on an ambitious growth trajectory,” Selendy said. “What we hope to do is continue to demonstrate to the market that you can do a balance of plaintiff and defendant side work, you can do a balance of commercial and public interest, and be successful.”