David R Callaway

Practice Areas

David is a former federal and state prosecutor with more than 30 years of experience in criminal law and trial practice, including 18 years as an Assistant United States Attorney. He has tried over 30 federal, state, and military cases to verdict.

David is, first and foremost, a trial lawyer. He also advises individuals and public and private companies, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to tech startups, on a wide range of commercial litigation and internal investigations. He handles criminal matters related to economic crime, including securities and commodities fraud, national security, public corruption, privacy and cybercrime, trade secrets, enforcement by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and money laundering. David speaks fluent Spanish and represents international clients, particularly in Central and South America.

Prior to joining private practice, David served as Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, where he oversaw the prosecution of all federal criminal cases in the district, including those stemming from the bailout following the Great Recession. He also served as Chief of the Economic Crimes and Securities Fraud section, Chief and Deputy Chief of the San Jose branch office, and was a member of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit (CHIP), the first of its kind in the nation. Earlier in his career, David was a Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, California, after beginning his legal career as a military prosecutor and defense attorney in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

Before joining Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes, David was a partner at Goodwin Procter.

Personal

J.D., 1985

University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law;

B.A., 1982

Santa Clara University

(summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa)

Work Highlights

David has represented:

- A privately held tech company in a civil jury trial in Alameda County, achieving a complete defense verdict against a former employee alleging workplace retaliation based on his purported status as a “whistleblower.” Notably, David and his team were asked to parachute into this trial after it was already two weeks underway.

- A physician in a federal criminal trial in which the government alleged that he had received cash kickbacks in return for home health referrals. The jury hung after a five-week trial and the government decided not to retry the case.

- Numerous companies regarding the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, including whether to avail themselves of the SBA’s “amnesty” program.

- The founder and CEO of a healthcare company in a qui tam action brought under the civil False Claims Act.

- A Silicon Valley tech company engineer in a federal grand jury investigation into alleged trade secret theft (the investigation was closed with no charges filed).

- A decentralized virtual reality platform based on blockchain technology, and located in South America, in response to an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

- The founder and CEO of a fiber optics equipment manufacturer in parallel criminal and civil actions brought by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission alleging insider trading in the company’s own shares.

- The co-founder of a drone startup in civil litigation and a criminal investigation by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office arising from allegations that the company’s marketing campaign misled consumers.