David West is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  He has extensive experience in all aspects of employee benefits law, including related areas of labor, tax and securities law.  Mr. West has handled numerous significant matters involving compliance counseling and planning, transactions and litigation in connection with pension and profit sharing, employee stock ownership plans, health and life insurance, and deferred and executive compensation.  He has also served as an expert witness in various employee benefits and pension accounting disputes.

He graduated cum laude from Fordham University Law School in 1979, where he served as a member of the Law Review .  He has lectured and written extensively on employee benefits subjects, including the accounting treatment for pensions, post-retirement welfare benefits, and equity compensation, and recent issues surrounding executive compensation.

Mr. West served in 1991-92 as chairman of the Employees Benefits Committee of the Taxation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and in 2000 became a charter fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel.

From 1996-2005 he served as a coordinator of the Firm's Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits Practice Group.