Dave Anderson

DAVE ANDERSON has been described in the press as a “talented trial lawyer” who is “smart and well organized,” “good in front of a jury,” and “well known and respected.”

“His arrival in a case forces the other side to take stock and see if they wish to continue.”
Chambers USA 2024

Dave is a former United States Attorney and former Supreme Court clerk. He represents leading technology and life sciences companies, large banks, telecommunications carriers, and high-profile individual clients. Clients turn to Dave with their most difficult trials and investigations.

Throughout his career, Dave has devoted himself to a far-reaching trial practice. His experience includes white-collar investigations, board representations, patent, trade secret, and trademark litigation, and high-stakes commercial litigation. For eight years he was a prosecutor, and for more than 20 years he has served his clients in private practice.

In 2024, Dave was named to Forbes’ inaugural “America’s Top 200 Lawyers” list. He has been recognized by Chambers USA for his work in California Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (2015–2017, 2022–2025) with clients noting “Dave's government experience provides him the necessary insights and gravitas to help navigate through complicated issues. I value his counsel and steady hand during such high pressure matters,” and “Dave should be on everybody's shortlist. He is the most strategic lawyer I have ever been around, very clever and very creative” (2025). Benchmark California has named him a “Litigation Star” and “California Star” in the Commercial, Securities, and White Collar Crime categories, most recently in its 2025 edition. Above the Law named him one of the “Top Partners to Work For — California” in 2011. Dave has also been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America, International Who’s Who, and Super Lawyers.

The following selected matters reflect the broad range of Dave’s work:

• Represented the world’s best-known social media company in a multi-agency investigation of the largest tech IPO in history. SEC charges were brought against the national exchange that listed the client’s stock, and state charges were brought against one of the lead underwriters. No charges were brought against the client.
• Defended the world’s best-known consumer electronics company against patent infringement claims involving the distribution of video content to cell phones. After a two-week trial, the jury rejected all plaintiff’s claims. The verdict was upheld on appeal.
• Represented four C-suite executives in litigation asserting their rights to severance following the largest ever take-private transaction for a social media company. The litigation settled on confidential terms.
• Defended a CEO targeted in a criminal and civil investigation that the California Fair Political Practices Commission characterized as the “largest case of campaign money laundering in California history.” The client was exonerated. No charges were brought against him.
• Represented the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, the union of all NBA basketball players, in litigation against the union itself. The national sports press called this case a “legal aftershock of the 2011 NBA lockout,” a “fascinating, behind-the-curtain lawsuit,” and a “war,” with testimony from LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Derek Fisher, among others. The case settled on confidential terms.
• Many times, Dave has been asked to substitute into an older case on the eve of trial. For example, in 2023, he represented America’s largest telecommunications company in a long-running consumer class-action case in which the client had previously been represented by another top global firm. Moving quickly after his first appearance in the case, Dave and team reversed plaintiffs’ momentum, decertified the class, and obtained a defense judgment on all claims.
• From 2019 to 2021, Dave served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. As U.S. Attorney, he prioritized safe streets and the prosecution of public corruption and corporate crime. As Dave surged investigative resources across those case categories, a courtroom adversary told the Association of Business Trial Lawyers that “the laid-back days of the Northern California criminal practice are over.” A columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle said “I wouldn’t want him as an enemy.”
• Earlier in his career, Dave was an Assistant United States Attorney earning trial wins in some of the biggest criminal cases of their time. In United States v. Gregory L. Reyes, Dave prosecuted the only Silicon Valley CEO convicted of stock options backdating. The New York Times described the case as “the most notable conviction from this era.” In 2020, the defendant obtained a presidential pardon. In United States v. Charles W. McCall, Dave prosecuted the board chairman of a well-known public company in a case The Los Angeles Times called “one of the largest financial crimes ever investigated by the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission.”