David B. Anders

Education
- Dartmouth College, A.B. 1991
- Fordham University School of Law, J.D. 1994
Clerkships
Honorable Denny Chin, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 1995 – 1996
David B. Anders
David B. Anders is a partner in Wachtell Lipton’s Litigation Department. His practice focuses on the representation of Fortune 500 and other companies in connection with the defense of regulatory, white-collar criminal and complex civil litigation matters. He also regularly advises clients in connection with internal investigations and corporate governance and compliance reviews.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Anders served as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York from September 1998 through December 2005. During his time at the United States Attorneys’ Office, he investigated and prosecuted a wide variety of securities, commodities, and other investment fraud schemes, money laundering, immigration, racketeering, and associated violent crime. He tried 13 felony cases to verdict, and briefed and argued numerous appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was involved in several significant prosecutions during that time, including the investigation and prosecution of the fraud at WorldCom.
Mr. Anders is a 1991 graduate of Dartmouth College with an A.B. in government and graduated from Fordham University School of Law in 1994. He served as law clerk to the Honorable Denny Chin of the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York (1995-96).
Mr. Anders is a frequent speaker at bar associations and professional organizations on issues relating to securities and commodities fraud and internal investigations. He was an associate adjunct professor at Fordham University School of Law from 1997 through 2006. In 2005, The National Law Journal selected him as one of the country’s top 40 lawyers under 40. Mr. Anders is Chair of the Federal Bar Council’s Federal Criminal Practice Committee, a past-President of the Board of Directors of the Fordham Law School Alumni Association, and a director on several non-profit boards. Mr. Anders has been recognized by Chambers USA: Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers in Business as a leading lawyer in litigation; by Lawdragon as one of the 500 leading lawyers in America; by Benchmark: Litigation as one of the leading litigators in New York and in the country; and by Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers as one of the Leading lawyers in the field of Criminal Defense: White-Collar Crime. Mr. Anders served on the New York State White-Collar Crime Task Force, which was charged with examining New York’s white-collar crime laws with the goal of recommending legislative and executive changes.
Select Publications
- White-Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: What Mattered in 2022 and What to Expect in 2023,
in NYU Law School’s Blog on Compliance and Enforcement, March 2, 2023.
- Risk Management and the Board of Directors,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 17, 2022.
- DOJ Delivers Stark Message About Corporate Cooperation,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, March 8, 2022.
- White-Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: What Mattered in 2021 and What to Expect in 2022,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, February 2, 2022 and Columbia Law School’s Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets, February 10, 2022.
- Revisiting Whistleblower Response Procedures in Light of SEC’s Whistleblower Bounty Payments Milestone,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 21, 2021.
- Vermont’s Fossil Fuel Suit Underscores Climate-Change Pressures Faced by U.S. Companies,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, September 17, 2021.
- SEC Division of Enforcement Forms New Climate and ESG Task Force to Target ESG-Related Misconduct and Potential Violations,
in Compliance & Enforcement, a blog of NYU Law’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, March 5, 2021.
- White-Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: What Mattered in 2020 and What to Expect in 2021,
in NYU Law School’s Blog on Compliance and Enforcement, February 4, 2021.
- Government Wins Significant Spoofing Conviction,
in NYU Law School’s Blog on Compliance and Enforcement, September 29, 2020.
- The Other "S" in ESG: Building a Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chain,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, August 14, 2020.
- GAO Report Highlights Dearth of Comparable, Decision-Useful ESG Disclosures; Senator Warner Seeks Task Force on ESG Metrics,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, July 17, 2020.
- Supreme Court Limits SEC Disgorgement Remedy,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, June 27, 2020.
- Reopening to a New Normal: Considerations for Boards,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, May 19, 2020.
- What to Say on Your Next Earnings Call in the Time of Covid-19: Providing Insights, Disclosing Scenarios and Managing Risks,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, April 23, 2020.
- Key ESG Considerations in the Crisis,
in Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, April 21, 2020.
- White Collar and Regulatory Enforcement in the Era of Covid-19,
in NYU Law School’s Blog on Compliance and Enforcement, April 7, 2020.