David Lavine

Overview

David Lavine is Senior Trial Counsel at the firm working from the Northern California office in San Francisco. David has been practicing law for more than 30 years. He began his career in the Honors Program of the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, where he worked to locate and bring judgment against Nazi war criminals. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted federal financial crime, including real estate and computer crime violations. Since then, David has brought and defended civil cases on behalf of clients, spanning securities fraud and consumer protection actions, breaches of contract, business torts, unfair business practices, real estate disputes, employment law violations, disability benefits claims, tax claims, immigration benefit claims, and intellectual property rights enforcements. Along the way, he has lectured on legal topics at training programs domestically and abroad, has taught litigation skills at several law schools, and has served as a judge pro tempore in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Superior Courts.

David is equipped to handle all aspects of a client’s case, through trial and appeal as necessary. He enjoys mentoring younger lawyers and paralegals to build a robust team in support of each client. He has learned to approach each case strategically, and to leverage his trial skills not only in the courtroom but also to best optimize settlement for his clients. He places the greatest value on client interaction and satisfaction – that each client is heard and informs legal strategy at critical junctures.

David attended the University of California at Berkeley for both undergraduate and legal studies, where he earned a BA in Rhetoric and a JD from the Boalt School of Law. He also completed a Masters in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He speaks Spanish fluently, and Hebrew and Bulgarian moderately well. He enjoys raising his twin children, traveling, swimming and classic rock.