David Berl is Co-Chair of the firm’s Patent Litigation practice and focuses principally in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and energy fields. David has served as lead counsel in numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical patent trials, in appellate proceedings in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in inter partes review proceedings before the PTO. He regularly serves as lead counsel to major corporations in significant patent litigations and has tried numerous patent cases that have resulted in verdicts favorable to his clients.
Benchmark Litigation selected David as a “National Practice Area Star” in 2020 and 2022 and as a “Local Litigation Star” from 2020-2023. David has also been recognized as a “Life Science Star” by LMG Life Sciences from 2013 to 2022. The 2019 edition quotes David’s intellectual property peers describing him as “one of the best lawyers working in this space” and he “deserves the accolades he gets.” He was also selected as a leading patent litigation attorney in the 2014 to 2023 editions of IAM Patent 1000, with the 2020 issue noting David has “amazing intellect and is creative, appropriately aggressive and technically superb.” Previous editions of IAM Patent describe David as having “a great deal of experience in high-level litigious matters and is fast, thorough and effective” and “can communicate with our scientists and our engineers and is an all-round brilliant advocate.” David was also named a “Rising Star” in intellectual property by Law360 in 2015.
Raised in Denver, David received an undergraduate degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and lead articles editor for the Stanford Journal of Law, Business and Finance. David spent a year as a litigation associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati followed by a year clerking for Judge Alvin A. Schall of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He joined Williams & Connolly in 2002 and is a member of the firm’s Budget Committee.
Updated Sep 2023
