• David Richards works on litigation matters, with an emphasis on white-collar criminal defense and government investigations. Dave’s work involves advising and representing individuals and entities in connection with regulatory enforcement actions, criminal trials and internal investigations, as well as civil cases at both the trial and appellate level, in federal and state court. 

    Most recently, Dave served as a member of the trial team defending the founder of a limited partnership family office with more than $36 billion in assets under management in a 10-week trial on charges of market manipulation, fraud and RICO conspiracy. He also served as a key member of several other criminal defense teams, including representing through sentencing the chief financial officer of a pharmaceutical company in connection with insider trading charges; the former chief financial officer of a San Francisco-based commercial bank in connection with regulatory and civil matters after the bank’s collapse; the U.S. governing body of a global religious organization in connection with the fraud prosecution of a former executive; and a politician in connection with a corruption investigation. 

    In his civil practice, Dave represented an asset management company in connection with an appeal to the Second Circuit regarding a matter of first impression under the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, among other issues.

    Dave also maintains a robust pro bono practice. He received the Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award in 2022 for his work appealing the sentence and conviction of multiple indigent incarcerated people. He also co-authored an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers regarding criminal defendants’ constitutional rights to government disclosure under Brady.
     
    Dave joined Kramer Levin after clerking for the Honorable Eric Komitee in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where he served for nearly two years. Before his clerkship, he worked as a litigation associate for a New York City-based global law firm, where he handled a range of criminal, civil and pro bono cases.

    Experience

    • Represented the founder of a limited partnership family office with more than $36 billion in assets under management in a 10-week trial on charges of market manipulation, fraud and RICO conspiracy.  

    • Represents the former chief financial officer of San Francisco-based commercial bank in connection with regulatory and civil matters after the bank collapse. 

    • Represented the former chief financial officer of a pharmaceutical company in connection with insider-trading charges that resulted in a non-prison sentence.

    • Represented a politician in connection with a corruption investigation.

    • Represented the U.S. governing body of a global religious organization in connection with the fraud prosecution of a former executive.

    • Represented an asset management company on appeal to the Second Circuit regarding a statutory question of first impression under the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. 

    Credentials

    Education

    • J.D., Columbia University School of Law, 2017
      • Ruth Bader Ginsburg Prize
      • James Kent Scholar
      • Managing Editor, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law
      • Teaching Assistant, Civil Procedure
      • Research Assistant, Professor Suzanne Goldberg
    • B.A., Political Science and History, Northwestern University, 2014

    Bar Admissions

    • New York, 2019

    Clerkships

    • Honorable Eric Komitee, U.S.D.C., Eastern District of New York, 2020 - 2021

    Languages

    • Spanish

    Focus Areas