David Partida

David Partida maintains a broad and sophisticated litigation practice focused on complex disputes. Clients trust him with their most pressing and sensitive matters because he delivers candid counsel and sound judgment when it matters most.

David routinely represents individuals, companies, sovereign states, and nonprofit organizations in complex disputes across industries including financial services, technology, healthcare, hospitality, real estate, and manufacturing. His practice encompasses complex commercial litigation, corporate governance, intellectual property, securities matters, fiduciary duties, shareholder disputes, and regulatory investigations. He specializes in catastrophic and other special situations involving emerging technologies or issues that raise novel legal questions in areas where legal frameworks are still forming. He pursues these matters alongside traditional commercial disputes in which the governing doctrine is well settled but the facts are not.

In all matters, David evaluates each case from multiple perspectives: his clients’ business objectives, the likely views of decision-makers, and the opponent’s strategy. He assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each case realistically, recognizes when resolution serves the client better than vindication, or when aggressive action is required, and executes efficiently. His approach is grounded in the understanding that legal disputes do not exist in isolation from the commercial and human realities that drive them, and that effective advocacy requires more than technical skill—it requires judgment about risk, timing, aggression, and persuasion.

David has successfully served as first or second chair in trials, hearings, and depositions; delivered opening statements and closing arguments; examined fact and expert witnesses; and argued decisive motions. He has authored briefs that obtained summary judgment, opposed class certification, secured emergency relief, defeated applications for emergency relief, and prevailed on critical discovery motions.

David is admitted in New York and California and practices extensively in both jurisdictions, as well as in federal and state courts nationwide, and in international and domestic arbitral proceedings. His practice reflects years of representing clients in complex, high-stakes disputes and observing how courts apply existing legal frameworks to facts those frameworks were never designed to address—a challenge that has become increasingly urgent amid the rapid development and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies. He also maintains an active pro bono practice for which he has received numerous awards.

Technology & Intellectual Property

• Obtained emergency relief on behalf of the founder of a dental robotics company against hostile directors attempting to seize control of source code and proprietary technology, preserving the client’s control over critical IP through a case-defining TRO and preliminary injunction
• Defeated class certification in products liability actions involving hundreds of millions of dollars in claimed damages against international manufacturers
• Represented a healthcare technology founder in parallel litigations across multiple states arising from wrongful termination and equity dilution following a billion-dollar acquisition
• Litigated numerous trade secret, non-compete, and related disputes for technology companies in the software, biotechnology, and medical device industries, as well as their founders and key employees
• Regularly handles securities, employment, and compliance litigation in parallel with regulatory and internal investigations

Crisis Management, Incident Response & Catastrophic Situations

• Directed on-site data breach responses, ensuing forensic investigations, and coordinated incident responses for multiple clients facing unprecedented data breaches affecting thousands of point-of-sale locations, millions of consumer records, multiple federal and state investigations, and significant civil litigation, including consumer class actions and related corporate disputes
• Represented a wide range of specialty clients (e.g., zoos, vineyards, fertility clinics, and sovereign entities) in high-stakes disaster litigation, including matters involving allegations of funding terrorist activities, catastrophic property damage and business losses arising from natural disasters such as California wildfires, Superstorm Sandy, and Hurricane Irene, and other catastrophic loss scenarios, including the irretrievable loss of hundreds of patients’ eggs and embryos resulting from a cryogenic storage tank failure
• Routinely represents clients in vendor contract disputes, liability matters, and related technology-failure litigation

Complex Commercial Litigation

• Represented hotel owners in weeks-long trials involving real estate transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including alleged voidable transfers, management disputes, and partnership dissolutions
• Secured a multimillion-dollar recovery in a professional tax and accounting malpractice matter for an agribusiness client
• Routinely litigates matters involving breach of contract, fraud, fiduciary duties and other business tort claims across industries including hospitality, real estate, manufacturing, and professional services

Corporate Governance & Shareholder Disputes

• Prevailed in an expedited Delaware Chancery Court trial on behalf of a majority shareholder in a contested director appointment dispute, with the Delaware Supreme Court affirming the client’s retention of corporate control
• Member of the litigation team that defeated a corporate death-penalty claim against one of New York’s largest and most prominent nonprofit membership organizations, resulting from an unprecedented state enforcement effort that sought dissolution of the organization
• Represented shareholders and boards of numerous entities in control contests, fiduciary breach litigation, governance disputes, and internal investigations

White Collar Litigation & Government/Regulatory Investigations

• Secured a favorable outcome for a senior engineer in a federal obstruction investigation related to a major environmental disaster
• Represented a broad range of clients in numerous governmental investigations and regulatory enforcement actions, including in connection with CFTC, SEC, DOJ, and other state regulators and agencies

• "Unlocking the Future: Understanding Tokenization of Real-World Assets" (May 23, 2024)
• "Courts Continue Grappling With Whether Cryptocurrencies Are Securities and Whether Digital Trading Platforms Are Liable for Securities Violations" (April 9, 2024)