David joined Claggett & Sykes Law Firm in 2021 as an appellate attorney. He is a fourth generation Southern Nevadan and is proud to continue his family’s commitment to public service.

David graduated with honors from Ed W. Clark High School’s Academy of Math Science and Applied Technology. He then attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Economics. He immediately entered graduate school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, pursuing a Master of Arts in Political Science. Recognizing David’s talent for research, teaching, and writing, the Department of Political Science offered him a graduate teaching assistantship and later made him the department’s only grant-funded research assistant. David also served as the department’s representative on the Graduate and Professional Student Association. David’s master’s thesis used a panel-corrected statistical model that analyzed the relationship between non-renewable resource exports and corruption, finding a statistically significant relationship between the two. He ultimately completed graduate school with a 4.0 grade point average.

Following graduate school, David began working for the Brookings Institution as a monitoring and evaluation researcher, tracking Nevada’s implementation of recommended economic diversification programs. In this capacity, David interacted with stakeholders throughout Nevada, including: the Governor’s Office; members of the Nevada Legislature; the Governor’s Office of Economic Development; the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation; and various regional development authorities and chambers of commerce. He presented his findings to scholars at Brookings and the Rockefeller Foundation on a biannual basis.

David simultaneously began teaching United States government at Chaparral High School. He also served as Chaparral’s coach for its We the People team, which is a law, speech, and debate-based curriculum.

Upon completion of his work with Brookings, and two years into his teaching career, David began law school at the William S. Boyd School of Law as a part-time evening student. He made the Dean’s Honor List every year while he attended and earned CALI Excellence for the Future Awards in Federal Income Tax, Public Health Law, and Opening Statements and Closing Arguments. He also served as Vice President of the Student Bar Association. David ultimately graduated with cum laude honors.

Following law school, David clerked at the Supreme Court of Nevada for the Honorable Justice Elissa Cadish for two years. In that capacity, David provided thorough legal research and analysis on over 30 cases before the court covering a wide range of legal topics.

Since joining Claggett & Sykes, David has represented clients before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Nevada, and the Nevada Court of Appeals.  He has prevailed as an appellant, a respondent, a real party in interest, and as an amicus curiae.  David has also prevailed in oral argument before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court of Nevada.