David P. Burns is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is the co-chair of the firm’s National Security Practice Group, and a member of the White Collar and Investigations and Crisis Management practice groups. His practice focuses on white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations, national security, and regulatory enforcement matters. David represents corporations and executives in federal, state, and regulatory investigations involving securities and commodities fraud, sanctions and export controls, theft of trade secrets and economic espionage, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, accounting fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international and domestic cartel enforcement, health care fraud, government contracting fraud, and the False Claims Act.
David has most recently been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® for his work on Criminal Defense: White-Collar matters (2024-2025). Additionally, David has been recognized by Chambers USA – America's Leading Business Lawyers as a leading White Collar attorney in the District of Columbia (nine years ranked), and Who's Who Legal and Global Investigations Review (GIR) recognized him as a leading investigations lawyer, deemed "excellent" for his work across "federal, state, and regulatory investigations.” Benchmark Litigation has also named David a “Litigation Star” for 2025, while Who’s Who Legal has recognized him as a leading lawyer in Business Crime Defense.
Prior to re-joining the firm, David served in senior positions in both the Criminal Division and National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Most recently, he served as Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, where he led more than 600 federal prosecutors who conducted investigations and prosecutions involving securities fraud, health care fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, public corruption, cybercrime, intellectual property theft, money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act violations, child exploitation, international narcotics trafficking, human rights violations, organized and transnational crime, gang violence, and other crimes, as well as matters involving international affairs and sensitive law enforcement techniques. Prior to joining the Criminal Division, David served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the National Security Division from September 2018 to December 2020. In that role, he supervised the Division’s investigations and prosecutions, including counterterrorism, counterintelligence, economic espionage, cyber hacking, FARA, disclosure of classified information, and sanctions and export controls matters. He also spent five years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Criminal Division, from 2000 to 2005.
A sample of David’s representative experience include the following:
- Represented a large financial institution in investigations of manipulation of interest rate benchmarks, including LIBOR, conducted by the Criminal and Antitrust Divisions of the DOJ, the CFTC, the SEC, the UK Financial Services Authority, and numerous other international criminal, competition, and regulatory authorities.
- Defended the former general counsel of a major regional brokerage firm in a three-week securities enforcement trial before the SEC’s chief administrative law judge and obtained dismissal of all claims.
- Represented a special committee of the board of directors of a Canadian pharmaceutical company relating to allegations of accounting fraud.
- Defended a government contractor in a multi-year False Claims Act investigation conducted by the DOJ and Department of Defense.
- Defended a marine company executive in a criminal price fixing case prosecuted by the Antitrust Division of the DOJ.
- Represented a large engineering and infrastructure company in an investigation conducted by the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ.
- Represented a United States Congressman in a public corruption investigation conducted by a United States Attorney’s Office.
- Represented an investment bank in an investigation conducted by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority involving initial public offering allocations.
- Represented the controller of a large public company in an FCPA investigation conducted by the DOJ and the SEC.
David graduated in 1995 from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an Articles Editor of the Columbia Business Law Review. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Boston College in 1991.
Capabilities
- White Collar Defense and Investigations
- Crisis Management
- International Trade
- National Security
- Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation
- Tech and Innovation
Credentials
Education:
- Columbia University - 1995 Juris Doctor
- Boston College - 1991 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- District of Columbia Bar
News & Insights
Client Alert
BIS Final Rule on Voluntary Self-Disclosure Process and Penalty Guidelines Highlights Significant Export Control Violations and Higher Penalties
Webcasts
Webcast: Emerging Trends in U.S. Export Control Enforcement
Webcasts
Webcast: CFIUS Enforcement Guidelines: First-Ever Guidance on Enforcement and Penalties in U.S. National Security Reviews of Foreign Direct Investment