Big firm talent. Small firm creativity.

Professional Highlights

Recognition & Accomplishments

Active in the Philadelphia Bar Association, David recently received the Committee Chair of the Year Award for his service as Chair of the Business Litigation Committee.  He is a member of the Business Law Section’s Executive Committee, the State Civil Rules and Procedures Committee, and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference.  He was formerly Chair of the Aviation Law Committee, Chair of the Bar Foundation Education Committee, and Secretary of the Mayor’s Financial Crisis Committee.  He is a frequent course planner and lecturer to business organizations and lawyers in Continuing Legal Education and other programs.  David served as an adjunct professor of law in the Temple University Law School LLM in Trial Advocacy program.  He recently was appointed by the Center for International Legal Studies as a visiting professor in law at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, in 2012.  David has served as a judge pro tem in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas since 1996, in the Court’s Commerce Program since 2001, and in the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program since its inception in 2008.

Prior Experience

Before joining Kleinbard, David started his legal career at Dechert LLP and was a founding partner of Tannenbaum & Chanin, LLP.

Representative Matters

• Represented trustees of employee pension fund in Philadelphia Inquirer bankruptcy case, seeking successor liability and administrative claim for withdrawal liability.
• Represented buyers as plaintiffs and defendants in multi-million dollar disputes arising out of asset acquisitions.
• Represented Fortune 400 insurer to favorable judgment on multi-party life insurance coverage and bad faith claims arising out of agent termination.
• Represented secured lenders, unsecured trade creditors, landlords, franchisors, insurers and nonprofits in out-of-court workouts and in bankruptcy court, on a range of matters including relief from stay litigation, allowance and valuation of secured and unsecured claims, asset valuation hearings, administrative claim disputes, assumption/rejection of executory contracts, defense of preference and fraudulent conveyance actions, setoff, corporate control, substantive consolidation, and Section 363 asset purchases.
• Represented shopping center in successful Chapter 11 reorganization.
• Represented large donors and evangelical organizations in defense of preference, fraudulent conveyance and unlawful promotion claims in largest eleemosynary Ponzi scheme bankruptcy case, participated in formation of ad hoc committee which developed successful claims resolution process.
• Represented aircraft and component manufacturers in catastrophic loss cases, including cases involving claims in excess of $100,000,000; successfully litigated government contractor defense cases.
• Represented lead security company and coordinated joint defense group in then the largest and most complex high-rise fire litigation in nation’s history.
• Represented defendant company in $35 million insider theft case.
• Represented arts-related nonprofit in out-of-court reorganization.
• Mediated numerous disputes as court-appointed judge pro tem in Dispute Resolution Center and Commerce Program of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.
• Represented law firms as personal counsel in class actions and fire loss cases.