David C. Lachman

Profile

David Lachman is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. His practice focuses on complex civil litigation, particularly in the areas of antitrust, transnational, and trade secret and employee mobility matters, as well as white collar criminal defense and government investigations. He has represented clients in a range of industries including media and entertainment, technology, and life sciences.

Recent examples of his work include:

  • Representation of Abbott Laboratories in a nationwide multi-district litigation involving antitrust challenges to patent settlements and patent litigation. In re AndroGel Antitrust Litigation (II).
  • Representation of a prominent international law firm in a legal malpractice action in connection with an auction rate securities offering.
  • Defended social gaming company Playdom in trade secret misappropriation lawsuit brought by Zynga, involving allegations that its former employees stole ideas for social gaming and used those ideas in their work for Playdom. Zynga Game Networks, Inc. v. Playdom, Inc.
  • Represented a major art museum in a government investigation related to allegations of misuse of its endowment funds and other corporate governance issues.
  • Represented a major motion picture studio in a foreign investigation of tax-advantaged film financing.
  • Defended New Line Cinema against claims brought by the heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien challenging the participation accounting for the Lord of the Rings movies and the right to make movies based on The Hobbit.
  • Represented an individual in a criminal tax investigation regarding tax shelters.
  • Represented the former CEO of a technology company in SEC and U.S. attorney investigations arising from the alleged backdating of stock options by the company.

A fluent Spanish speaker, Mr. Lachman has represented companies with significant operations in Latin America in foreign and domestic legal challenges, including:

  • Providing litigation and counseling advice to a Fortune 100 company regarding diverse legal challenges facing its operations in Panamá, Honduras, Colombia, and Uruguay.
  • Representation of a Fortune 500 company in federal court in a tort case based on its operations in Peru.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics, government and Spanish from Oberlin College, Mr. Lachman served as a legislative aide to then-Majority Leader Richard Gephardt of the U. S. House of Representatives. Mr. Lachman subsequently earned a master’s degree in Spanish literature from Columbia University, where he was a President’s Fellow. He taught for several years in Spain, where he also worked for a labor union.

Mr. Lachman received his law degree from Columbia University School of Law in 2007. He was a James Kent and Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and served as managing editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. During law school, Mr. Lachman worked on several petitions before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Robert D. Sack of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

He is fluent in Spanish and Basque, and is proficient in French.

David Lachman is a litigation associate in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. His practice focuses on complex civil litigation, particularly in the areas of antitrust, transnational, and trade secret and employee mobility matters, as well as white collar criminal defense and government investigations. He has represented clients in a range of industries including media and entertainment, technology, and life sciences.

Recent examples of his work include:

  • Representation of Abbott Laboratories in a nationwide multi-district litigation involving antitrust challenges to patent settlements and patent litigation. In re AndroGel Antitrust Litigation (II).
  • Representation of a prominent international law firm in a legal malpractice action in connection with an auction rate securities offering.
  • Defended social gaming company Playdom in trade secret misappropriation lawsuit brought by Zynga, involving allegations that its former employees stole ideas for social gaming and used those ideas in their work for Playdom. Zynga Game Networks, Inc. v. Playdom, Inc.
  • Represented a major art museum in a government investigation related to allegations of misuse of its endowment funds and other corporate governance issues.
  • Represented a major motion picture studio in a foreign investigation of tax-advantaged film financing.
  • Defended New Line Cinema against claims brought by the heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien challenging the participation accounting for the Lord of the Rings movies and the right to make movies based on The Hobbit.
  • Represented an individual in a criminal tax investigation regarding tax shelters.
  • Represented the former CEO of a technology company in SEC and U.S. attorney investigations arising from the alleged backdating of stock options by the company.

A fluent Spanish speaker, Mr. Lachman has represented companies with significant operations in Latin America in foreign and domestic legal challenges, including:

  • Providing litigation and counseling advice to a Fortune 100 company regarding diverse legal challenges facing its operations in Panamá, Honduras, Colombia, and Uruguay.
  • Representation of a Fortune 500 company in federal court in a tort case based on its operations in Peru.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in economics, government and Spanish from Oberlin College, Mr. Lachman served as a legislative aide to then-Majority Leader Richard Gephardt of the U. S. House of Representatives. Mr. Lachman subsequently earned a master’s degree in Spanish literature from Columbia University, where he was a President’s Fellow. He taught for several years in Spain, where he also worked for a labor union.

Mr. Lachman received his law degree from Columbia University School of Law in 2007. He was a James Kent and Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, and served as managing editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. During law school, Mr. Lachman worked on several petitions before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Robert D. Sack of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

He is fluent in Spanish and Basque, and is proficient in French.