Dave serves as a valued advisor for public companies, helping them break down barriers and implement strategies that achieve financial and business success. His technical knowledge and collaborative approach help clients achieve their commercial goals and position themselves for long-term growth.

Overview
Representative Matters
Insights
Awards

Dave counsels senior executives, directors, and public company boards and committees on corporate governance, securities regulation, securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and other major transactions. His many years of experience enable him to strategically guide business decisions that are critical to clients’ growth strategies.

Dave regularly advises public companies on compliance with all federal securities laws, including Sarbanes-Oxley and NYSE/Nasdaq matters. In addition, he assists companies with public disclosures and the drafting and filing of related documents.

Dave counsels clients in a broad range of industries, including energy, manufacturing, retail, and logistics. This broad experience enables him to apply and adapt best practices established in one industry to navigate similar challenges that arise for companies in other sectors.

  • Serves as outside general counsel to an energy holding company, a Fortune 1000 natural gas energy company, one of the world’s largest cash management companies, and a leading global agricultural product supplier.
  • Serves as designated underwriter’s counsel for a Fortune 250 energy company and its operating subsidiaries.
  • Represented one of the largest publicly traded coal companies as outside general counsel, providing advice on all aspects of its business, including multiple common stock and debt public offerings.
  • Advised a synthetic biotechnology company, including in connection with its $184 million initial public offering (then the highest-valued biotech company ever at its original IPO) and its more than $500 million in multiple common stock and at-the-market offerings.
  • Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer (2018, 2020-2025) – independently rated lawyers
  • Chambers USA: Corporate/M&A, Southern Virginia (2014-2025)
  • Super Lawyers: Virginia (2021)
  • Best Lawyers in America®: Corporate Law (2015-2026) and Securities/Capital Markets Law (2013-2026)
  • Virginia Business Magazine: “Legal Elite” in Business Law (2005-2010, 2012, 2014-2017, 2020, 2023)
  • Legal 500 United States for Corporate (2015-2018), Finance: Capital Markets: Debt Offerings (2025)
  • Best Lawyers in America®: “Lawyer of the Year” in Securities/Capital Markets Law, Virginia (2014)

Dave counsels senior executives, directors, and public company boards and committees on corporate governance, securities regulation, securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and other major transactions. His many years of experience enable him to strategically guide business decisions that are critical to clients’ growth strategies.

Dave regularly advises public companies on compliance with all federal securities laws, including Sarbanes-Oxley and NYSE/Nasdaq matters. In addition, he assists companies with public disclosures and the drafting and filing of related documents.

Dave counsels clients in a broad range of industries, including energy, manufacturing, retail, and logistics. This broad experience enables him to apply and adapt best practices established in one industry to navigate similar challenges that arise for companies in other sectors.

  • Serves as outside general counsel to an energy holding company, a Fortune 1000 natural gas energy company, one of the world’s largest cash management companies, and a leading global agricultural product supplier.
  • Serves as designated underwriter’s counsel for a Fortune 250 energy company and its operating subsidiaries.
  • Represented one of the largest publicly traded coal companies as outside general counsel, providing advice on all aspects of its business, including multiple common stock and debt public offerings.
  • Advised a synthetic biotechnology company, including in connection with its $184 million initial public offering (then the highest-valued biotech company ever at its original IPO) and its more than $500 million in multiple common stock and at-the-market offerings.
  • Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer (2018, 2020-2025) – independently rated lawyers
  • Chambers USA: Corporate/M&A, Southern Virginia (2014-2025)
  • Super Lawyers: Virginia (2021)
  • Best Lawyers in America®: Corporate Law (2015-2026) and Securities/Capital Markets Law (2013-2026)
  • Virginia Business Magazine: “Legal Elite” in Business Law (2005-2010, 2012, 2014-2017, 2020, 2023)
  • Legal 500 United States for Corporate (2015-2018), Finance: Capital Markets: Debt Offerings (2025)
  • Best Lawyers in America®: “Lawyer of the Year” in Securities/Capital Markets Law, Virginia (2014)
  • Adjunct professor of law, William & Mary School of Law (2005-2007; 2023)
  • Board of Trustees, Historic Richmond Foundation (president 2017-2019; trustee since 2011)
  • Board of Directors, Virginia Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (1996-2020)
  • Board of Directors, Corporate Counsel Section, Virginia Bar Association (2005-2015; chairman, 2011-2013)
  • Business Law Section, American Bar Association
  • Parish Council, Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church (2017-2022)

Education

  • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1995, Articles Review Board, Virginia Law Review; Order of the Coif
  • University of Virginia, B.S., with distinction, 1992

Bar Admissions

  • Virginia
  • Speaker, Troutman Pepper’s Annual Public Company Seminar (2006-present).
  • Speaker, Troutman Pepper’s 2024 Public Company Seminar, October 24, 2024.
  • Speaker, “Georgia Cybersecurity CLE Summit and Dinner: When Cyber Attacks Strike – Preventing and Managing the Downpour,” Troutman Pepper, August 29, 2024.
  • Speaker, Troutman Pepper’s 2023 Public Company Seminar, December 7, 2023.
  • Speaker, Troutman Pepper’s 2022 Public Company Seminar, December 8, 2022.
  • Presenter, “ESG,” Troutman Pepper Annual Public Company Seminar, December 9, 2021.
  • Co-presenter, “Deep Dive With Dave – Confidential Treatment Workshop,” TheCorporateCounsel.net, March 30, 2021.
  • Co-presenter, “Modernization of Regulation S-K” and “Human Capital Management,” Troutman Pepper Annual Public Company Seminar, December 2020.
  • Co-presenter, “Podcast: Securities Litigation and Disclosure Issues,” COVID-19 Litigation Podcast Series, Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton, April 21, 2020.
  • Speaker, “Corporate Governance 2015: Board and Stockholders,” University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Charlottesville, VA (September 2015).
  • Speaker, “Beyond the Law: Business Lawyers Managing Risk and Compliance,” Annual Meeting of the Virginia Bar Association, Williamsburg, VA (January 2015).
  • Speaker, “Say on Pay Litigation,” Registrar and Transfer Company, Eagle Rock Proxy Advisors and Troutman Sanders Webinar (June 2013).
  • Speaker, “Proxy Season,” Annual Meeting of the Virginia Bar Association (January 2012) and Annual Fall Forum of the Virginia Bar Association (October 2011).
  • Speaker, “Taking the MD&A Challenge,” SEC’s Institute Mid-Year SEC Reporting Forum, San Francisco, CA (June 2008) and Washington, D.C. (November 2011).
  • Speaker, “The Role of the Corporate Counsel,” Washington Metro Association of Corporate Counsel, Richmond, VA (May 2008).
  • Speaker, “Living With SEC; New Executive Compensation Rules,” Mercer Consulting Executive Compensation Conference, Richmond, VA (September 2006).