David Elihu is a Partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles office. He has obtained over $500 million in verdicts and arbitration awards for his clients over the last three years — a record built on fierce velocity and relentless preparation. He is one of the few trial lawyers at the elite firm level who holds graduate engineering degrees (MIT) alongside a law degree from Harvard. He thinks like an engineer and fights like a trial lawyer — which means he doesn’t just manage technical experts, he challenges them, and he doesn’t need months to get up to speed on the most complex subject matter. That combination has made him a go-to counsel for high-stakes trade secret, patent, life sciences, antitrust, and drug commercialization disputes across the country and internationally.
Where the case warrants it, David personally architects AI-augmented litigation workflows on his case teams — compressing timelines that traditionally take weeks into days and passing those efficiencies directly to his clients.
David is a seasoned trial and arbitration lawyer who has tried cases in multiple courts across the country and before arbitral tribunals. He is currently lead counsel in multiple matters — on both the plaintiff and defense side — including cases involving the alleged theft of trade secrets, and in earnout disputes.
David’s recent results reflect the caliber and range of his practice:
- Soon-Shiong / Sorrento Arbitration. Trial counsel and key case architect for Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and affiliated entities, obtaining a more than $173 million drug development arbitration victory against Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. Sorrento had initiated the disputes by asserting over $1 billion in damages. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within days of the judgment, eventually resulting in liquidation.
- Fusion Protein Trade Secret Arbitration. Arbitration counsel in a highly contentious trade secret dispute involving fusion protein technologies between two public companies. The matter resulted in the respondent assigning David’s client its lead Phase 2 clinical candidate and key patents as part of the publicly reported settlement.
- Syntimmune Earnout Dispute. Part of the trial team representing former shareholders of Syntimmune in a life sciences earnout dispute, securing an over $350 million judgment following a bench trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery — one of the largest publicly reported earnout verdicts.
- Cybersecurity Patent Case. Lead counsel in a five-patent cybersecurity competitor case, successfully invalidating all asserted patents at the pleading phase. The case settled shortly following the Court’s ruling.
David’s practice is increasingly international, with him representing clients in the United States, China, and India on disputes involving cross-border issues, including regarding the theft of valuable intellectual property.
David also represents startups and earlier-stage companies facing bet-the-company disputes against entrenched industry players — matters where the stakes are existential, the resources are asymmetric, and the margin for error is zero. His engineering background and AI-driven approach to litigation are particularly well-suited to founders and in-house teams that need senior, hands-on counsel who can move with efficiency and speed.
Over the course of his career, David has handled disputes spanning life sciences (vaccines, antibody drug conjugates, biologics, cancer drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, cosmetics, dental products), technology (construction management and payment software, customer onboarding platforms, cybersecurity, computer architecture, wireless and cellular communications, Internet-based transactions, AI and robotics), and industrial sectors (chemicals, small molecules, flat panel displays).
David is admitted to practice in California and New York.
- Access Bio
- Adcentrx Therapeutics
- Black Kite
- Brink Biologics
- Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL)
- Dentsu
- Dow Chemical
- IP Bridge
- ImmunityBio
- Merck
- Motorola
- NantWorks
- Olaplex
- SK Nexilis
- Symantec
- Time Warner Cable
- University of Southern California
- Wolverine World Wide
- As lead counsel, successfully represented memory manufacturer and individual employees in a trade secret case adverse to one of the world’s leading fabless memory manufacturers. Resolved case favorably out of court within months of case filing.
- As lead counsel, successfully represented the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries in a patent dispute, achieving complete victory.
- As lead counsel, representing leading manufacturer of dental and cosmetic products in patent and false advertising disputes.
- As lead counsel, defending former executive in trade secret dispute with leading Internet company.
- Representing Foresight Diagnostics in trade secret litigation adverse to Roche.
- Representing SK Nexilis in a patent infringement battery patent infringement dispute.
- Representing cybersecurity company in patent infringement and false advertising lawsuit.
- Representing multiple pharmaceutical companies in a series of litigations and arbitrations relating to the development and transfer of rights to oncology drug candidates, fusion protein technology, and monoclonal antibodies.
- Representing Adcentrx Therapeutics against AbbVie in a trade secret dispute related to antibody-drug conjugate technology.
- Representing Nektar Therapeutics against Eli Lilly in a drug development contract dispute.
- Representing a company in connection with the False Claims Act Investigation by the Department of Justice relating to Medicare payments and provision of medical services.
- Represented Pacific Dental Services in an antitrust action under the California Cartwright Act involving an alleged conspiracy in the dental industry.
- Represented IP Bridge in patent matters involving both telecommunications and semiconductor patents.
- Represented Olaplex in a $93 million trial victory against L’Oreal, the largest beauty company in the world, in a patent and trade secret dispute involving chemical hair treatment additives.
- Represented Fetch Media, Ltd., a member of the global media agency Dentsu’s family of companies, in a fraud and breach of contract action filed by Uber Technologies, Inc. in the Superior Court of California, relating to the presence of “ad fraud” in mobile advertising.
- Represented Time Warner Cable in patent dispute relating to DVR technology filed by TiVo in the Eastern District of Texas. The parties settled favorably on the eve of trial.
- Represented Motorola in multiple patent, breach of contract, and antitrust actions against Apple and Microsoft in the Northern District of Illinois, the Western District of Wisconsin, the International Trade Commission, and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
- Represented a technology company against Facebook in an antitrust action involving tying and monopolization claims relating to the use of virtual currency and social game networks.
- Represented Furuno Electronics in a dispute before the International Trade Commission involving GPS technology.
- Represented life sciences company in a supply and licensing dispute related to natural killer cells.
- Represented Olaplex in breach of contract dispute after Quinn Emanuel was retained on the eve of trial.
- Represented Pendo in a patent lawsuit asserted by WalkMe relating to the generation of online tutorials. Achieved a complete victory, obtaining dismissal and invalidation of the asserted claim because it did not cover patentable subject matter.
- Represented various companies in investigations by the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
- Patent Litigation
- Health Care Litigation
- Post-Grant Practice
- Antitrust & Competition
- Trade Secret Litigation
- Trademark, Trade Dress, Unfair Competition/False Advertising, and Publicity Rights Litigation
- Internet Litigation
- Investigations, Government Enforcement & White Collar Criminal Defense Practice
- Life Sciences Litigation
- Life Science: Pharmaceutical Antitrust Litigation
- Life Science: Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation
- Litigation Representing Plaintiffs
- Life Science: Biotechnology
- Harvard Law School
(J.D., 2009)- Harvard Journal on Legislation
- Co-President, 2008-2009
- Harvard Journal on Legislation
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(M.Eng, Biomedical Engineering, 2006) - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(S.B., Chemical Engineering, 2005)
- The State Bar of California
- The State Bar of New York
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Federal Circuit
- Registered to Practice Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Ropes & Gray LLP:
- Associate, 2010-2011
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