David Watnick Counsel

David Watnick's practice focuses on contract disputes, class actions, consumer protection and false advertising suits, insurance recovery claims, and intellectual property litigation, including trade secret, trademark, and copyright matters.

David is often brought into high-stakes disputes when the team needs an excellent writer and oral advocate, and he is often tapped for key oral arguments. David has argued several motions in both state and federal courts, including numerous motions to dismiss, as well as preliminary injunction, evidentiary, and discovery motions.

David also frequently authors briefs in appellate courts across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Among other appellate successes, before joining the firm David scored a victory for the respondent in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, where the Supreme Court issued a landmark administrative law decision holding that the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program violated the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. In addition to his merits-stage work, David has also represented Supreme Court litigants at the certiorari stage, and in mandamus petition and emergency stay application briefing.

David graduated from Stanford Law School, where he earned three class prizes, and earned his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Michigan. After law school, David clerked for the Honorable Gilbert S. Merritt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and for the Honorable Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.