Daniel C. Girard
Partner
- 415.981.4800
- dcg@girardgibbs.com
- DOWNLOAD VCARD
- Education
- J.D., University of California at Davis School of Law, 1984
Editor, Law Review - B.A., Cornell University, 1979
- Admissions
- California;
- United States Supreme Court;
- United States Court of Appeals
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Ninth Circuit - United States District Court
Northern, Central, Southern, Eastern Districts of California
District of Colorado
- Memberships
- United States Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules (2004-2010)
- American Law Institute
- Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)
- American Bar Association, Business Law Section
- Northern California International Arbitration Club
Daniel C. Girard serves as the firm’s managing partner and coordinates the prosecution of various securities, antitrust and consumer legal matters handled by the firm.
He has successfully prosecuted over 75 class action matters and served in leadership positions in a number of precedent-setting cases. Some of the cases in which Mr. Girard served as lead counsel include In re American Express Financial Advisors Securities Litigation, ($100 million settlement), In re Prison Realty Securities Litigation, ($104 million settlement), In re i2 Technologies Securities Litigation, ($88 million settlement), and In re MCI Non-Subscriber Rates Litigation, ($90 million). He served as a member of the Executive Committee in the Natural Gas Antitrust Cases I, II, III and IV, antitrust litigation against numerous natural gas companies for manipulating the market for natural gas in California. The Natural Gas litigation resulted in total settlements of nearly $160 million. Mr. Girard recently served as lead counsel in In re H&R Block Express IRA Litigation, which resulted in a $19.5 million settlement for low-income consumers. Mr. Girard also represented the California State Teachers Retirement System in litigation in a non-class securities action against Qwest Communications, Inc. and outside auditor Arthur Andersen, resulting in a recovery of $45 million for CalSTRS.
Mr. Girard currently serves as lead counsel in the In re Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc Securities Litigation, representing investors who held the company’s Non-cumulative Dollar Preference Shares (preferred share group). He also serves as lead counsel in the In re SLM Corporation Securities Litigation, representing purchasers of SLM Corp. stock (commonly known as Sallie Mae). He is a member of the executive committee charged with managing In re Lehman Brothers Holdings Securities and ERISA Litigation, multidistrict proceedings arising out of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., the largest bankruptcy in United States history. Mr. Girard also advises institutional investors in the United States and Europe on securities litigation matters, and assists in the prosecution of several international arbitration proceedings on behalf of European clients.
Mr. Girard served for six years (2004-2010) on the Federal Civil Rules Advisory Committee, where he participated in drafting the Committee’s proposed amendments governing electronic discovery and consideration of possible changes to the Rules governing summary judgment and expert discovery. He is a member of the American Law Institute. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, a national, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the process and culture of the civil justice system.
Mr. Girard is the co-author of Limiting Evasive Discovery: A Proposal for Three Cost-Saving Amendments to the Federal Rules, 87 DENV. U. L. REV. 213, 473 (2010) and Managez efficacement vos litiges d’affaires, Extrait du magazine, Décideurs N°121, November 2010. He is a frequent speaker on issues of electronic discovery, class actions and financial fraud, including the following recent presentations: Contentieux et Arbitrage International: les bons réflexes à acquérir (Litigation and International Arbitration: acquiring the right reflexes), Paris, France, March 2011; Panel on Proposals for Rule Amendments and Preservation Obligations, United States Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, San Francisco, January 2011; Panel on Dispositive Motions, 2010 United States Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, Litigation Conference, Duke Law School, May, 2010; "Iqbal/Twombly Fallout- Are General Federal Rules Passé?," ABA, Section of Litigation Annual Conference, April 22, 2010; "Opportunities for Cooperation between Plaintiffs' Counsel in Global Financial Frauds," Financial Fraud- Background and Litigation Panel, Global Justice Forum, October 16, 2009; "Les tendances des contentieux Américains issus de la crise financière," Paris, France, May 12, 2009; "Ethical Issues in E-Discovery," Electronic Discovery and Records Retention Conference, Thomson Reuters, December 10, 2008; "How the Economic Crisis is Affecting U.S. Class Actions," Asset Managers Working Group on U.S. Class Actions, Paris, France, October 14, 2008; "Auction Rate Securities: The Real Story," NERA's Eleventh Annual Finance, Law and Economics Securities Seminar, July 2008; "Electronic Discovery and the Amended Rules After a Year...What's New? What's Next?," Emerging Ethics Issues in E-Discovery, West LegalWorks, February 26, 2008; "The Subprime Loan Crisis- Strategies for Pension Fund Counsel," 2008 NAPPA Investment Roundtable, February 7, 2008; "Class Action Litigation in the United States," Presentation for Japanese Fact-Finding Mission on Class Actions in the United States, June 13, 2007.
Mr. Girard is a member of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and currently serves as the Section’s representative on the Task Force on Federal Preemption. He is past Chair of the Business Law Section's Subcommittee on Class Actions, Co-Chair of the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee’s Task Force on Litigation Reform and Rule Revision, and Vice-Chair of the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee. He has served as a guest lecturer on class actions and complex litigation at the UC Davis Law School, UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall), UC Hastings College of the Law, and Stanford Law School.
Mr. Girard was selected for inclusion in Northern California Super Lawyers from 2007 through 2011, and has earned an AV-Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, recognizing him in the highest class of attorneys for professional ethics and legal skills. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day School in San Mateo, California from 2003-2008, including three years as board chair from 2005-2008. He has been a volunteer conservation easement monitor for the Peninsula Open Space Trust since 1991.
He is a 1984 graduate of the School of Law, University of California at Davis, where he served as an editor of the Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 1979. Mr. Girard is a member of the California Bar.
