For further information regarding our team of neutrals, call Meghan Lettington at 949-760-5280, or email MLettington@phillipsadr.com
Area of expertise:
David is one of the nation’s most sought-after neutrals in complex commercial litigation. A retired partner of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York, David joined Phillips ADR in April 2017. Since then, he has served as a mediator, arbitrator and independent monitor in hundreds of commercial disputes, including antitrust, patent, securities law, corporate governance, investment company, bankruptcy, environmental, construction, contract and tort cases.
Representative settlements include, among many others:
David regularly mediates federal class action securities law cases, shareholder derivative suits, as well as breach of fiduciary duty and corporate control cases. At any given time, he has a significant number of Delaware Chancery Court cases on his mediation docket.
In addition, David is retained to serve as a neutral monitor for complex, executory settlements — most recently, as the monitor under a settlement agreement between Standard Amusements and Westchester County involving the development and operation of Rye Playland.
Over his three decades at Wachtell, Lipton, David handled federal securities and derivative litigation, antitrust litigation, contests for corporate control, breach of fiduciary duty and corporate governance disputes, as well as contract, tort and high-stakes defamation cases. He also specialized in defending white-collar criminal investigations and often represented companies and individuals before the DOJ, SEC, Federal Reserve, OCC, NASD and state attorneys general.
While at Wachtell Lipton, David negotiated several key aspects of the landmark national tobacco settlement with the state attorneys general. Later, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, he counseled major financial institutions and individuals before an array of prosecutors and regulators and also before Congress and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC). On several occasions, he was specially retained to conduct internal corporate investigations at the request of federal bank regulators, including the Federal Reserve and OCC. He also led international internal investigations into potential violations of the FCPA, US sanctions and anti-money laundering laws, the USA Patriot Act and US antitrust laws. David has litigated and arbitrated cases in more than two dozen states.
An honors graduate of Yale College, David received his law degree from the University of Chicago, where he won the annual Hinton Moot Court, Thomas J. Mulroy Prize for outstanding oral advocacy, and Joseph Henry Beale Prize for legal research and writing.
After law school, he clerked for Judge Ralph K. Winter, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Chief Judge Charles L. Brieant of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
An avid racing sailor since childhood, David and his family reside in Rowayton, Connecticut.
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