ASSOCIATE
Overview
David Wills is an Associate in Scheef & Stone’s Litigation section. His practice focuses on business disputes and is broad by nature. Many of his cases involve real estate disputes, breach of contract, securities litigation, and claims of fraud. The largest specific area of David’s practice is representing equity receivers in federal courts for the benefit of individuals who fell prey to large scale fraudulent schemes.
Experience
David’s practice encompasses every stage of litigation, including drafting contracts and notices to avoid litigation and meet the client’s business needs, counseling clients on regulatory compliance, attaining a favorable settlement, or zealously advocating for his clients in mediation, arbitration, or a court of law.
David earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Harvard Law School and served as an extern to the Honorable Judge Boyle in the Northern District of Texas. Although born and raised in Dallas, David graduated magna cum laude from University of Arizona with a degree in International Studies. David also has experience as a business owner from a business that he founded and managed for six years before attending Harvard Law School.
Representative Matters:
- Acted as lead attorney in representing shareholders in business divorce cases and obtaining favorable settlements.
- First chaired eviction matter to trial and secured for the landlord an eviction, past due rent payments, and attorneys’ fees.
- First chaired multiple cases involving breach of business contracts and claims of fraud, including common law fraud and statutory fraud under the Deceptive Trade Practice Act.
- Represented federal equity receivers in the Northern District of Texas, the Western District of Texas, and the District of Delaware, helping to attain millions of dollars through fraudulent transfer claims and the like, and overseeing the distribution of the funds to the victims of the Ponzi scheme or other fraudulent scheme subject to the receivership.
- Researched and developed antitrust claims in multi-million-dollar securities litigation and drafted key documents such as the arbitration demand and mediation statement.
- Negotiated and attained settlement for real estate investor avoiding specific performance and acquiring funds held in escrow.
- Advised multiple clients on employment law issues such as non-compete and other restrictive covenants, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
- Researched California contract law and helped draft a complaint to claim over one million dollars under an exclusive dealing contract.
- Contributed to representation of Google in antitrust investigation led by U.S. Department of Justice and the Texas Office of Attorney General.
- Lead a team of students from the Harvard Law School Federal Tax Clinic in researching and drafting an appellate brief on administrative law in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, successfully overruling a Tax Court and invalidating an administrative practice of the IRS in favor of the client. Gregory v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, 839 F. App’x 745 (3d Cir. 2020).
Associations
- Member, Dallas Bar Association
- Member, Harvard School of Law Alumni Association
Education
- Juris Doctor, Harvard School of Law 2021
- Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, International Studies, University of Arizona, 2012
Practice Areas
- Employment Litigation
- Oil and Gas Litigation
- Securities Litigation & Arbitration
- Direct Sales & Regulatory Matters
- State and Federal Appeals
- Banking Litigation & Foreclosures
- Construction Litigation
- Contract Drafting and Negotiation
- Joint Ventures & Partnerships
- Shareholder Disputes
- Venture Capital Transactions
- Government Enforcement Receiverships
Admissions
- State Bar of Texas, 2021