David D. Burnett is Senior Counsel at Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP in Washington, D.C.  He brings 19 years of experience representing plaintiffs— insurance companies, local and state governments, pension funds, consumer classes, and individuals—in complex commercial litigation, securities and antitrust litigation, and product liability mass torts.  

David began his career at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in New York, where he spent a decade representing insurance companies and hedge funds in claims against Wall Street banks arising from losses on mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations following the 2007 financial crisis.  David also worked at Burford Capital, the world’s leading litigation funder, evaluating dozens of investments tied to lawsuits, monitoring investments, and advising the Investment Committee.  He most recently worked at Motley Rice LLC and DiCello Levitt LLP, both national plaintiffs firms.  He represented local governments in litigation against social media companies; presented to government attorneys and school board members at four conferences; represented investors in securities class actions against Amazon, NYSE, and others; and represented a New Jersey state agency in Superfund litigation.   

David was recognized among the 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers.  His work frequently involves securities claims, financial analysis, and data-intensive issues, including working with experts in economics, statistics, and epidemiology.  He published a Law360 article entitled “The Importance of Data and Data Analysis in Litigation” (June 16, 2022), which he also presented as a D.C. Bar continuing legal education course.  He also published “Opioid Suits Offer Case Study In Abatement Expert Testimony” in Law360 (May 23, 2024).   

Over his career, David has taken and defended 50 fact and expert depositions, most as first chair, and he second-chaired four experts at a bellwether mass torts trial.  He has written dozens of winning briefs in federal and state courts.  For example, he helped defeat dozens of motions to dismiss filed by Wall Street banks in securities fraud cases, leading to favorable settlements for major insurance companies early in discovery each time. He also represented victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in obtaining settlements and represented a Chadian refugee in obtaining asylum and work authorization.   

David’s recent court wins on his briefs include the following, in reverse chronological order:  In re Motion to Quash Subpoenas to Nonparty Fin. Indust. Reg. Auth., Inc., 25-mc-129 (D.D.C. Feb. 4, 2026) (granting bankruptcy trustee’s motion to transfer FINRA’s motion to quash to the issuing court in Nevada pursuant to FRCP 45(f)); Roche v. Southern Ca. Edison Co., No. 25STCV03334 (CA Super. Ct. Jan. 27, 2026) (denying defendants’ demurrer and motion to strike class action claims in wildfire litigation); Aetna, Inc. v. Actavis Holdco US, Inc., et al., No. X03-CV-25-6196927-S, 2026 WL 35871 (Conn. Super. Ct. Jan. 2, 2026) (denying motions to dismiss in pharmaceutical antitrust litigation but granting stay); In re Meta Materials, Inc., No. 1:25-mc-00453 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 11, 2025) (transferring Nasdaq’s motion to quash in securities case from compliance court to issuing court per FRCP 45(f)); In re Hair Relaxer Mktg. Sales Pracs. & Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 23-CV-0818, 2024 WL 4333713 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 27, 2024) (in products liability MDL for thousands of class members, denying defendant Revlon’s motion to strike class allegations and motion to dismiss the class action complaint); Salter v. Meta Platforms Inc., et al., No. 808604/2023 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Erie Cnty. Mar. 18, 2024) (denying motions to dismiss brought by Google and YouTube) (reversed on appeal; I played no role in appeal); Zimmerman v. The 3M Company, et al., No. 1:17-cv-1062 (W.D. Mich. Mar. 3, 2023) (granting motion for final approval of class action settlement); Holwill v. AbbVie Inc., No. 1:18-cv-06790, 2023 WL 12175581 (N.D. Ill. July 24, 2023) (granting motion to compel revisions to defendant’s privilege logs); In re: Nat’l Prescription Opiate Litig., MDL 2804, 2019 WL 4043938 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 26, 2019) (in opioids MDL on behalf of thousands of plaintiff cities and counties, denying motions to exclude expert testimony related to abatement costs); City of Huntington v. AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., No. 3:17-01362, 2021 WL 1596355 (S.D. W.V. Apr. 22, 2021) (in opioids MDL bellwether suit, denying motions to exclude expert testimony related to abatement costs).

While in law school at the University of Virginia, David worked as a teaching assistant in Legal Research and Writing, authored journal articles on legal history and public policy—“Judging the Aesthetics of Billboards,” 23 Journal of Law and Politics 171, Spring 2007; and “Fast-Food Lawsuits and the Cheeseburger Bill:  Critiquing Congress’s Response to the Obesity Epidemic,” 14 Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law 357, Spring 2007—edited professors’ articles for the Journal of Law and Politics, and summered at Milbank LLP and a plaintiffs firm in Washington, D.C.  He also worked as a teaching assistant in writing during graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin.   

David serves as the President of the Abenaki Tower and Trail Association, a century-old conservation non-profit in New Hampshire.  He has served for 12 years on the Board of Advisors of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the nation’s oldest conservation non-profit.  Prior to attending law school, David worked with at-risk youth for Outward Bound, served hikers in an off-the-grid hut on the Appalachian Trail, interned at the National Museum of American History and the Wilderness Society, and bicycled across the country for charity.  He lives in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Taylor and Birdie the dog.  

David is admitted to the State Bar of New York, the D.C. Bar, and the bars of the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York, District of Columbia, and Northern District of Illinois.