Denis J. McInerney, a former top official within the U.S. Justice Department, is returning to Davis Polk & Wardwell as a partner in its litigation and white-collar criminal defense and investigations practices.

McInerney, 55, served as chief of the Fraud Section at the Justice Department from 2010 to 2013 and then deputy assistant attorney general overseeing the fraud, appellate and capital case sections of the Criminal Division from 2013 to 2014.