David W. Ogden is the chair of the firm’s Government and Regulatory Litigation Group. He served as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2010. He has rejoined the firm, where he was a partner from 2001-2009.
A nationally recognized litigator and counselor with thirty years’ experience, Mr. Ogden focuses on disputes with complex legal and policy dimensions and serious financial implications. His clients have included leading companies in the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, insurance, financial, airline, defense, automotive, media, entertainment, government services and Internet industries, as well as major trade and professional associations, nonprofit foundations, and individuals. Representative matters have included:
- civil litigation and government enforcement actions under regulatory regimes such as the antitrust or competition laws, the False Claims Act, export control laws, and anti-discrimination, fraud, environmental, and tax laws;
- cases raising issues of public and private international law, such as investor-state disputes, enforcement of foreign judgments, controversies in foreign legal systems, and injunctions against foreign litigation;
- administrative law and other litigation involving defects in government regulations or other official actions;
- litigation to restrain the enforcement of federal or state statutes, including first amendment, federal preemption, Commerce Clause, equal protection, due process, and expropriation issues; and
- Supreme Court and appellate litigation.
US Government Experience
Mr. Ogden was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and he did so from 2009 to 2010. In that position, he was the second ranking official of the United States Department of Justice and its chief operating officer, supervising the Justice Department’s 110,000 employees, almost $30 billion budget, and all of its components and operations. Among the components reporting to Mr. Ogden were the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies, the 93 United States Attorneys Offices, and all of the Justice Department’s national litigating divisions including the Criminal Division, National Security Division, Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, Antitrust Division, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Tax Division. He served as a member of the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council, and led major Justice Department and Executive Branch initiatives addressing health care fraud, financial fraud, international organized crime, Mexican drug cartels, immigration, international tax enforcement, and law enforcement in Indian Country. He also worked regularly with the leaders of foreign justice and interior ministries on international disputes and national security and law enforcement matters
Earlier, Mr. Ogden served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division (1999-2001), where he directed the Justice Department's largest litigating unit representing federal agencies and officials in major civil litigation, including the government's largest regulatory, constitutional, international, national security, administrative, government contract, commercial, tort, fraud and false claims, immigration, and consumer matters. He also served as Chief of Staff and Counselor to former Attorney General Janet Reno (1997-1999), Associate Deputy Attorney General (1995-1997), and Deputy General Counsel and Legal Counsel at the United States Department of Defense (1994-1995).
Practice
Representative matters include:
International Disputes
- Obtaining for a US petrochemical company judicial declarations that foreign judgments totaling more than $500 million are unenforceable in the United States
- Managing for a US pharmaceutical company high-stakes litigation in foreign courts raising issues of judicial corruption and investor-state protections
- Representing an American company in litigation against a foreign state under the expropriation and commercial activities exceptions to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
- Defending foreign airlines in US antitrust litigation seeking more than $50 billion in damages, and managing related litigation worldwide
- Representing a multinational petrochemical corporation in ICSID arbitration
- Representing a national professional association in a consumer class action suit filed by its members
- Representing an international law firm in a civil racketeering suit brought by a former adversary in international arbitration
- Representing a former US Secretary of State in Alien Tort Statute litigation
Government and Public Policy Litigation
- Obtaining for a trade association summary judgment striking down on Commerce Clause and preemption grounds a state price control statute
- Obtaining for a trade association summary judgment striking down on preemption grounds a state statute that invalidated arbitration clauses in certain agreements
- Obtaining for an entertainment industry company dismissal of a qui tam action brought under the False Claims Act
- Representing an insurance company in a Justice Department False Claims investigation
- Obtaining on behalf of a major national mortgage lender dismissal with prejudice of a putative nationwide discrimination class action
- Advising and representing a major federally-chartered private corporation in a range of litigation and corporate matters
Professional Activities
In 2010, Mr. Ogden was elected as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States.
Honors and Awards
- Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity, US Department of Justice (2010)
- Consistently selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of commercial and mass tort litigation, and business litigation
- Recommended as a litigation star in Washington, DC in Benchmark Litigation's The Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys (2008 and 2012).
- Named a 2007, 2008 and 2009 Washington, DC Super Lawyer for business litigation
- One of Washington Business Journal's "Top Washington Lawyers" in the area of corporate litigation (2006)
- National Law Journal Pro Bono Award (2006)
- Edmund J. Randolph Award for Outstanding Service, US Department of Justice (2001)
- Attorney General's Medallion, US Department of Justice (1999)
- Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service (1995)
