DAVE GORDON has led winning teams in numerous high-profile cases involving challenging financial, economic, and accounting issues. He is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, the head of the 150+ lawyer Litigation group in the firm’s Chicago office, and the co-leader of the firm’s global Accountants and Professional Liability practice.
Dave’s experience spans a variety of substantive areas, including commercial litigation and disputes, government investigations, professional liability actions, and securities and shareholder derivative litigation. Dave is an experienced trial lawyer and has served as lead counsel in numerous high-stakes federal and state court proceedings, arbitrations, and administrative proceedings. Dave has prevailed on dispositive motions in cases with alleged damages totaling billions of dollars. He has won at trial for both plaintiffs and defendants, including obtaining a $62 million judgment as a plaintiff and obtaining complete defense victories.
In addition to his extensive litigation work, Dave also has successfully represented institutions and individuals in investigations initiated by the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) involving virtually every one of the Division’s offices. Such representations have included investigations involving allowances for doubtful accounts, auditor independence, cybersecurity, disclosures, impairments, insider trading, internal controls, inventory, loan loss reserves, misappropriation of funds, non-GAAP measures, pensions, real estate, revenue recognition, stock options backdating, and subprime lending, among many others. Dave has successfully represented institutions and individuals in matters before the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), as well as the U.S. Department of Justice (in Washington and various U.S. Attorneys’ Offices), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, state law enforcement authorities, and state and local regulators.
Dave also has conducted numerous confidential internal investigations of alleged employee or corporate wrongdoing for corporations, boards, and board committees.
Dave understands the cultural, judicial, and regulatory nuances involved in cross-border representations, having deep experience representing businesses and/or their employees from numerous jurisdictions outside the United States, including Brazil, China, Cyprus, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Dave’s advocacy has earned him repeated recognition from Chambers USA from 2018-2022 in general commercial litigation, most recently describing him as a lawyer whose “leadership, strategic vision and advocacy are unparalleled” and quoting a client who recognized that Dave’s “vision for the case itself has guided us to success.” In prior years, Chambers has identified Dave as “an outstanding civil litigation lead” who is “able to divine the likely outcomes,” an “outstanding commercial litigator and wise counselor,” and “a strategic thinker and a zealous advocate.” Dave also has been recognized repeatedly in Super Lawyers in the areas of securities litigation, business litigation, and professional liability defense. He also has been recognized as honorable mention “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer and as a 2019 Notable Gen X Leader in Law by Crain’s Chicago Business.