DAVID W. NANCE LAW FIRM LLC
New Orleans, LA, USA

SOLE MEMBER
1998 - PRESENT

• Serve as outside general counsel to numerous web-based and traditional businesses in New Orleans and around the world

• Perform all duties of lead counsel in litigation (administrative, state and federal, trial and appellate courts) and counsel regarding healthcare, intellectual property, SaaS, M&A, joint ventures, real estate, contracts, construction, cemetery as well as more general areas of law

Reliant Rehabilitation
Dallas, TX, USA

• Advised the officers and employees, in more than 25 states, on legal matters

• Ensured corporate compliance for separate entities in more than 25 states

• Prepared, reviewed, and negotiated complex commercial and employment agreements

• Performed all duties of lead counsel in state and federal litigation

• Drafted administrative complaints and responses

• Retained and oversaw work of outside counsel

The Producers, Inc.
New Orleans, LA, USA

IN-HOUSE GENERAL COUNSEL
2005-2007

• Advised the board and officers on all legal matters affecting parent company, with more than 12 subsidiaries and employees around the world, on corporate governance, Internet, trademark, copyright, employment, commercial and residential property, compliance, commercial contracts, and corporate finance

• Prepared, reviewed and negotiated complex commercial and employment agreements

• Performed all duties of lead counsel in hearings, trials, and appeals in state and federal courts

• Drafted administrative complaints and responses

• Retained and oversaw work of outside counsel

• Managed legal department

• Drafted, negotiated, and lobbied for a bill for Internet-based pawn before the Louisiana Legislature

Office of the Attorney General of Texas - Transportation Division
Austin, TX, USA

• 30% travel

• Lead counsel for complex litigation involving, but not limited to, highway and building construction and maintenance, eminent domain, environment, oil and gas, illegal advertising, and right-of-way encroachment before administrative, state, and federal courts in bench and jury trials

• Successfully litigated seven jury trials, six as lead and supervising counsel

• Supervised five co-counsel in their first trial

• Successfully litigated hundreds of administrative hearings

• Managed the work of 10 attorneys and 6 secretaries on all TxDOT administrative and construction cases

• Assisted and trained new attorneys and paralegals for administrative, state, and federal litigation

• Responsible for appellate work required on my cases, including research, brief writing and oral argument before state and federal appellate courts

• Negotiated and mediated litigation and contract disputes for OAG and TxDOT

• Drafted pleadings, contracts, legal opinions, proposed legislation, administrative rules and agency policy all in compliance with the relevant law and client goals within critical time deadlines

• Effectively advised and worked with other OAG divisions, TxDOT, and other state and federal agencies and cities with prudent judgment, high-energy, and integrity

• Prioritized and organized complex concepts and priorities in order to clearly, creatively, and tactfully communicate them to coworkers, clients, judges, and jurors while demonstrating tolerance of others and respect for legal and ethical ambiguities

• Established time- and money-saving procedures and practices within the OAG and TxDOT

Muñoz de Toro & Muñoz de Toro
Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Only American lawyer representing an Argentine company in stock sale of a multimillion-dollar Brazilian company to Morgan Stanley Investment Bank and Deloitte & Touche USA LLP

• Gave legal opinions regarding enforcement of a multimillion-dollar AAA decision against an Argentine company and service of process in Argentina for a civil enforcement suit brought in a U.S. district court

• Structured Internet ventures (DD lists; articles; as well as shareholders', preliminary and non-disclosure agreements)

• Prepared and revised prospectuses for firm clients traded on New York Stock Exchange

• Responsibly pursued the interests of my foreign clients while complying with US ethics and professionalism rules

Texas Youth Commission (now Texas Juvenile Justice Department)
Austin, TX, USA

Pünder, Volhard, Weber & Axster (now Clifford Chance)
Warsaw, Poland

• One of two attorneys representing a S. Korean company in a multimillion-dollar automobile plant joint venture and an American company purchasing assets of a multimillion-dollar Polish cement company

• Revised master contract for multimillion-dollar bank loans to a Polish shipyard to construct 7 ships

• Prepared and revised English/German/Polish versions of a major German bank's standard suretyship agreement, distributor agreements, nondisclosure agreements, and project financing agreements

• Structured and established companies and Polish branch offices along with all pertinent documents

• Revised clients' standard contracts to comply with international treaties and national laws

• Supervised teams of attorneys and secretaries

• As the firm’s only American lawyer, in a firm of over 200 attorneys, I anticipated and tactfully addressed potential conflicts between the goals of international clients, my German firm, and our US clients' ethical and industry standards along with my own duty to comply with US ethical and professional rules

• Over the course of three years, I completed five consecutive employment contracts working in Warsaw, Poland with two local partners who initially protested, during my interview, my hiring by the managing partner based in Düsseldorf, Germany

• Legal Columnist of “Lex Feuilleton” Modern Domainer, 2006-2008

• Co-Author/Co-Speaker, “Handling Fraudulent Construction and Maintenance Claims” for TxDOT, Construction and Maintenance Division, Annual Construction Conference, March 2005

• Author/Speaker, “L’État, c’est moi: Suggested Methods for Enforcing Administrative Laws Ethically, Professionally, Efficiently, and Successfully,” for OAG, Transportation Division, Ethics/Professionalism in Administrative Law, March 12, 2004 (2 CLE hours in ethics and professionalism)

• Co-Author/Co-Speaker, “E.D. JURISDICTION: How to Get and Keep the Right to Take Land” for OAG, Transportation Division, Eminent Domain Law Conference, December 18, 2003 (1 CLE hour in ethics and professionalism)

• Authored "Real Estate: Poland" in the October 1998 edition of International Financial Law Review

• Wrote "Corporate Governance: Poland" in the April 1998 edition of International Financial Law Review

• Authored "Doing Business in Europe: Poland" in the June/July 1997 edition of AsiaLaw

Louisiana (1998)
Texas (1999)
New York (2000)
Florida (2006)

U.S. Supreme Court
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana         
U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas

Loyola University School of Law, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1993-1996

Juris Doctor (civil and common law)

• First American awarded Austrian ÖAD grant to study law for a 5-month semester (1995) in German at the College of Law of Vienna University, focus on European Union and public international law

The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, 1985-1990 (145 total semester hours)

Bachelor of Arts

• Double Major in German, Spanish, and 4 hours short of a major in Sociology

• Minors in Astronomy and French

St. Stephen’s Episcopal School; Austin, Texas, 1979-1985 (full academic scholarship)

School Year Abroad (Exeter, Andover, St. Paul’s); Barcelona, Spain, 1983-1984 (full academic scholarship)