David Lender is co-Chair of Weil Gotshal's global Litigation Department and has over 20 years of experience trying and litigating a wide range of complex, international commercial disputes in state and federal courts around the country. Mr. Lender’s practice encompasses all substantive areas of the law, with emphasis on RICO, patent, antitrust, consumer fraud and contracts. In those and other types of litigation, he has tried numerous cases to verdict – many of which have resulted in his clients obtaining, or avoiding, hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
Serving as co-lead counsel for General Electric, Mr. Lender secured a $170 million jury verdict against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in a patent infringement litigation in Texas federal court regarding wind turbine technology. Mr. Lender’s other significant trial achievements have likewise resolved highly complex disputes that were global in scope. He won a complete defense jury verdict for ESPN in New York Supreme Court in a $231 million lawsuit brought by Modi Entertainment Network regarding the launch of the ESPN channel in India, a case requiring the application of both New York and Indian law. Mr. Lender also won a $417 million jury verdict for Exxon Mobil Corporation against Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, one of the largest petrochemical companies in the world, in Delaware Superior Court, where he asserted claims for breach of contract and usurpation under Saudi Arabian law.
Among his other notable representations, Mr. Lender was co-lead counsel for ESPN in a $1 billion defamation lawsuit brought by boxing promoter Don King, whom he deposed before obtaining summary judgment. He also has represented Sotheby’s in a number of litigations relating to its auctions, including winning a complete defense verdict involving a consignment of 17th-century New Mexican furniture and decorative arts, and recently was lead counsel for Dow Chemical in obtaining the dismissal with prejudice of a highly publicized RICO litigation brought by Greenpeace.
Mr. Lender is a recognized expert, author and frequent lecturer on electronic discovery issues. He is the co-author of the leading treatise on the subject, entitled Electronic Discovery: Law and Practice, originally published by Aspen Publishers in 2003, author of Privilege Issues in the Age of Electronic Discovery, originally published by BNA in 2008, and head of the firm’s E-Discovery Task Force.
Mr. Lender is on the Executive Board of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and recently won a jury verdict in the Southern District of New York for a prisoner in a §1983 lawsuit.
Mr. Lender received his B.A., cum laude, from Duke University and his J.D. degree with High Honors, from the Duke University School of Law.
Mr. Lender is author of Bloomberg BNA Litigation Practice Portfolio Series No. 622, Privilege Issues in the Age of Electronic Discovery.