David R. McAtee has pursued a vigorous litigation practice that is both national and international in scope. Mr. McAtee’s practice is predominantly a federal trial and appellate practice involving complex business litigation issues.

Practice & Background

His specific areas of experience include: the defense of Big-4 accounting firms, patent litigation, insurance coverage matters, federal and state antitrust actions, tender offers, lender liability claims, multi-district and class-action litigation, and securities litigation. Mr. McAtee has extensive experience in developing programs for antitrust compliance and in counseling, negotiations and administrative representation in matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and antitrust divisions of state attorneys general offices.

Mr. McAtee has served on the firmwide executive committee, the firmwide management committee, the firmwide compensation committee and chaired Akin Gump’s national litigation practice from 1995 through 2006.

Mr. McAtee has lectured and published widely in the business litigation, lender liability and financial institutions complex litigation fields for such organizations as Southern Methodist University, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute and the University of Houston Law School.

Mr. McAtee received his B.B.A. with honors from Baylor University and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, where he served on the Honor Tribunal and the Hildebrand Moot Court. Following his graduation from law school, he served as law clerk to the Honorable Jack Pope, Supreme Court of Texas.

Mr. McAtee is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the American Bar Association and the Bar Association for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
Representative Matters

Mr. McAtee’s recent representations include:

successfully representing a Fortune 500 company in stock options “backdating” litigation
successfully defending numerous regulatory investigations of Big-4 accounting firms involving an array of financial reporting issues, including independence, auditing and tax matters
successfully defending a corporate officer subject to an SEC investigation involving revenue recognition issues
successfully protecting from government regulation the commercial free speech rights of a professional staffing firm
successfully representing defendants in various patent matters involving mobile telephony, semiconductors and commercial wire
successfully representing a public utility in a securities class action and related shareholder derivative litigation
successfully defending RICO claims brought against a Big-4 accounting firm by a well known country and western recording artist.

Community Involvement

Mr. McAtee’s community, civic and charitable activities include:

serving as chairman of the board of directors for Dallas Area Rapid Transit
serving as vice chairman for the Dallas City Planning Commission for the City of Dallas
serving as a member of the University of Texas Alumni Law Association Executive Committee, from 2005 until 2009
serving as Chair of the Texas Bar Foundation in 2007 and 2008.