David Simon is a partner in Mayer Brown's Washington DC office and a member of the global Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice. He is also a member of the firm's National Security and Government Contracts practices.
A former special counsel at the US Department of Defense (DOD), David has advised extensively on cutting-edge cybersecurity and national security matters. David focuses his practice on complex and sensitive cybersecurity, defense, intelligence and national security matters, with deep experience advising victims of state-sponsored cyber activity. He helps companies structure, negotiate and protect their commercial and compliance relationships with key national security government agencies. He also counsels US and foreign clients regarding economic sanctions, asset controls and transactions reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
During his time in the Pentagon (2011-2015), David served as special counsel to the DOD general counsel. In that capacity, he advised on matters involving cybersecurity policy, plans and operations, as well as social media, economic sanctions involving autonomous technologies, the use of force, counterterrorism, treaties and sensitive investigations.
David is widely recognized for his experience regarding cybersecurity law and policy. Recently, he served as an independent legal expert to the United Nations in support of its Group of Governmental Experts on cybersecurity. Additionally, he is a member of the Center for Strategic International Studies Cyber Policy Task Force. David also serves, at the invitation of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia, as a peer reviewer of the second edition of the “Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare.”
A Rhodes Scholar and Truman Scholar, David graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was an executive editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and a Heyman Fellow. Prior to attending law school, he received an M.Phil. in International Relations from Trinity College, Oxford, where he debated for the Oxford Union and was the managing editor of the Oxford International Review. David graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Minnesota, where he received a BA in Russian Area Studies.
