David R. Friedman
David R. Friedman is Counsel at Wilkinson Stekloff. He is a former federal prosecutor with deep appellate and trial experience.
Before rejoining the firm, David was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California. He most recently served as the Chief of the Criminal Appeals Section in Los Angeles. In this role, David managed the appellate docket of the largest district in the country, helped devise and implement legal strategy for the office’s most important cases, and regularly argued before the Ninth Circuit. In addition, David maintained an active docket of district court cases and served as lead counsel in three jury trials—all of which resulted in guilty verdicts.
During his time as an associate with Wilkinson Stekloff, David was a key member of trial teams that represented the NCAA and Facebook in high-stakes litigation. He handled cert and merits stage briefing in significant Supreme Court cases, as well as dispositive motions in various district courts across the country. David also played a leading role in the firm’s internal investigations on behalf of major organizations.
Before joining the firm, David served as a law clerk to the Honorable John B. Owens of the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Patrick E. Higginbotham of the Fifth Circuit.
Education
- Law: Stanford Law School, J.D. with Pro Bono Distinction (2014); Stanford Law Review, Managing Editor; Supreme Court Litigation Clinic
- Undergraduate: Dartmouth College, A.B., summa cum laude (2011)
Clerkships
- Judge John B. Owens, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2014-2015)
- Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (2015-2016)
Notable Matters
- Member of trial team for the NCAA in lawsuits brought by current and former student-athletes challenging, under the Sherman Act, NCAA rules limiting the level of athletics-based financial aid and benefits that student-athletes may receive. The Court’s opinion reaffirmed the procompetitive value of the NCAA’s rules limiting pay for student-athletes while enjoining certain limitations on benefits that student-athletes may receive.
- Member of trial team in Todd McNair v. NCAA. Team obtained a defense jury verdict in state court in Los Angeles. McNair, a former USC assistant football coach, was implicated by the NCAA in the Reggie Bush benefits scandal. He sued the NCAA for defamation. Wilkinson Stekloff took over the representation after the NCAA had lost three pretrial appeals, including on the issue of McNair’s ability to show falsity and malice. At trial, the team persuaded the jury to reject McNair’s claims and find that none of the NCAA’s statements was false. After further proceedings, the matter resolved successfully.
- Member of the trial team representing Facebook, Oculus VR, and individual defendants in Zenimax Media et al v. Oculus VR et al., a matter filed in the Northern District of Texas that went to trial. Plaintiffs sought $6 billion in damages based on allegations that the defendants improperly used their trade secrets and other intellectual property in designing the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. The team obtained a defense verdict for Facebook and partial defense verdicts for the remaining defendants, including the jury’s rejection of plaintiffs’ lead claim of trade secret misappropriation.
Publications
- David R. Friedman, The Inscrutability of Randomness, 51 Crim. L. Bull. 126 (2015)
- David R. Friedman & Jackie M. Robinson, Note, Rebutting the Presumption: An Empirical Study of Marsy’s Law, 66 Stan. L. Rev. 173 (2014)
- David R. Friedman, Note, The Right to Stay Gay, 25 Stan. L. & Pol’y Rev. 193 (2014)