David R. Callaway

David Callaway, an experienced federal and state prosecutor, is a partner in Goodwin’s White Collar Defense and Government Investigations & Enforcement Litigation practices. He has more than 30 years of experience in criminal law and trial practice, including 18 years as an Assistant United States Attorney. He has tried over 30 federal, state and military cases to verdict.

Mr. Callaway advises individuals and public and private companies, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to tech startups, on a wide range of commercial litigation and internal investigations. He handles criminal matters related to economic crime, including securities and commodities fraud, national security, public corruption, privacy and cybercrime, trade secret, enforcement by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and money laundering. Mr. Callaway speaks fluent Spanish and represents international clients particularly in Central and South America.

Mr. Callaway provides alternative dispute resolution advice, including litigation avoidance counseling, arbitration, implementation of policies and remedial actions, as well as the development of compliance protocols, particularly FCPA, anti-bribery, and anti-corruption policies, training, and due diligence.

As Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, Mr. Callaway oversaw the prosecution of all federal criminal cases in the district, including those stemming from the bailout following the Great Recession. He also served as chief of the Economic Crimes and Securities Fraud section, chief and deputy chief of the San Jose branch office, and was a member of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit (CHIP), the first of its kind in the nation. Earlier in his career, Mr. Callaway was a Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, California, after beginning his legal career as a military prosecutor and defense attorney in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

Recent matters include:

• Serving as lead trial counsel for a privately held tech company in a civil jury trial in Alameda County, in which Goodwin joined the case mid-trial and achieved a complete defense verdict against a former employee alleging workplace retaliation based on his purported status as a “whistleblower”
• Advising numerous companies regarding the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, including whether to avail themselves of the SBA’s “amnesty” program
• Representing the founder and CEO of a healthcare company in a qui tam action brought under the civil False Claims Act and currently pending in the Central District of California
• Successfully representing a Silicon Valley tech company engineer in a federal grand jury investigation into alleged trade secret theft (the investigation was closed with no charges filed)
• Advising a decentralized virtual reality platform based on blockchain technology, and located in South America, in response to an inquiry by the SEC
• Representing the founder and CEO of a fiber optics equipment manufacturer in parallel criminal and civil actions brought by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission alleging insider trading in the company's own shares
• Advising a digital currency trading group in an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Representing the co-founder of a drone startup in civil litigation and a criminal investigation by the San Francisco District Attorney's office arising from allegations that the company's marketing campaign misled consumers

While at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, Mr. Callaway received the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys' Director's Award for Superior Performance.

Mr. Callaway has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America Best Lawyers for his work in Criminal Defense: White-Collar 2023.

• “Minimizing Risks and Participating in the US Paycheck Protection Program,” Goodwin Webinar, May 5, 2020
• “COVID-19 Litigation and Government Investigations in the U.S.: What We Are Seeing Now, And What the Future Holds,” Goodwin Client Alert (April 24, 2020)
• “U.S. SBA Provides Important New Guidance And Announces “Amnesty” Program For PPP Loan Applicants,” Goodwin Client Alert (April 23, 2020)
• San Francisco Chapter of The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Fall Fraud Conference, October 25, 2019 - November 4, 2019