Home



Printable Version
David Coale  Partner
Dallas  +1.214.939.5595
Fax +1.214.939.5849
david.coale@klgates.com Add to Outlook Contacts


Areas of Practice • Representative Experience • Professional Background • Professional/Civic Activities • Speaking Engagements • Court Admissions • Bar Admissions • Education • Achievements • Additional Information

Areas of Practice

David Coale focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, including contract, corporate governance, e-commerce, construction and business tort issues.  Recent matters have involved the businesses of Internet "domaining," mortgage servicing, aviation, fiber optic component manufacturing and a wide range of engineering disciplines.  He has special experience in international litigation, having represented or opposed parties in Brazil, Canada, England, Germany, Jordan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Romania, South Africa, Swizerland and Taiwan.

Representative Experience
  • Substantial experience with receivership applications and emergency injunction proceedings, involving issues about real estate, trade secrets, parallel litigation, and contract obligations including noncompetition and nonsolicitation provisions.
  • Resolved a $3 million construction lien dispute with no liability for the owner client and an award of attorneys fees in its favor
  • Reversal of a default judgment. MobileVision Imaging v. LifeCare Hospitals, 280 S.W.3d 561 (Tex. App. - Dallas 2008, no pet.)
  • Settled a substantial contract dispute by arranging a mediation in London among parties from three continents – the first mediation for all party representatives involved.
  • Maintained state court venue over a multi-party case involving multiple removals and parallel suits. See Ondova Limited Co. v. Manila Indus., Inc., 513 F. Supp.2d 762 (N.D. Tex. 2007).
  • Orally argued significant “con-tort” issues about the sale of satellite communication facilities.  GWTP Investments, L.P. v. SES Americom, Inc., 497 F3d 478 (5th Cir. 2007).
  • Resolved claims against a global steel producer about oil and gas products involving over a dozen local, national, and international parties.
  • Led a team of lawyers in defense of over $80 million in claims under Mexican law arising from a gas turbine failure, coordinating international discovery in three languages over several years. See, e.g., Siemens AG v. Houston Cas. Co., 127 S.W.3d 436 (Tex. App. - Dallas 2004, pet. dism'd by agr.).
  • Lead counsel in a one-week federal jury trial for a Fortune 500 fiberoptics company about network monitoring technology (now on remand after appeal). Wavelinq, Inc. v. JDS Lightwave Prods. Group, Inc., 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17537 (5th Cir. 2008).
  • Complete defense verdict in a two-week state court jury trial for breach of a claimed real estate partnership.
  • Service on a trial team that successfully defended a Fortune 500 company against over $100 million in claims by a bankruptcy trustee. See Hurt v. Fannie Mae, 354 F.3d 372 (5th Cir. 2003).
  • Successful trial of an involuntary bankruptcy petition that led to a groundbreaking exception to the requirement of three petitioning creditors. In re Moss, 249 B.R. 411 (Bankr. N.D. Tex. 2000).
  • Presidential Citation from the State Bar for defense of the constitutionality of its lawyer advertising rules Texans Against Censorship v. State Bar of Texas, 888 F. Supp. 1328 (E.D. Tex. 1995).
  • Oral argument before the Texas Supreme Court in the appeal of In re Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's, 106 S.W.3d 332 (Tex. App. - Dallas 2003). 
  • Filed an amicus brief in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for a group of international law professors.  Ex parte Medellin, 223 S.W.3d 318 (2006), aff’d, Medellin v. Texas, 552 U.S. 491 (2008).
  • Part of defense team against billion-dollar claim for alleged overcharges by a major coal producer. See Southwestern Public Service Co. v. Thunder Basin Coal Co., 978 P.2d 1138 (Wyo. 1999) (companion case).

Professional Background

Mr. Coale clerked for the Honorable Patrick Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Before joining K&L Gates, he was head of the commercial litigation practice group at a Dallas-based law firm. 

Professional/Civic Activities
  • President, Harvard Club of Dallas
  • Chair-elect, Appellate Practice Section, State Bar of Texas
  • Campaign Cabinet, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, 2005-present
  • U.S. Chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee, U.S. - Mexico Bar Association
  • Council, Antitrust and Business Litigation Section, State Bar of Texas
  • Director, Dallas Urban Debate Association
  • Fellow of the Dallas, Texas, and American Bar Foundations
  • Leadership Dallas, Class of 2007
  • Former co-chair, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee, ABA Section of Litigation
  • Barrister, Patrick Higginbotham Inn of Court, 2003-06

Speaking Engagements
  • Panelist, "Negotiation for Young (and Old) Lawyers," American Bar Association Annual Meeting, 2010.
  • Panelist, "Cases That Matter to You," State Bar Annual Meeting, 2010
  • "Bankruptcy Appeals," State Bar Advanced Civil Appellate Course, 2009.
  • Moderator and Speaker, "Cross-Border Litigation and Arbitration: Latest Developments," US-Mexico Bar Association Annual Meeting, 2009.
  • Speaker on forum selection clauses, Dallas Bar Association, 2006, 2007, 2009.
  • Speaker on initial pleadings, DAYL "Lunch and Learn" series, 2009.
  • Speaker, State Bar New Lawyer and Practice Skill Course, 2008.
  • TYLA Ten Minute Mentor Program, 2008.
  • Texas Supreme Court review, State Bar Litigation Update, 2007.

Court Admissions
  • U.S. Courts of Appeals, Fifth and Ninth Circuits
  • U.S. District Court, Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas

Bar Admissions
  • Bar of Texas
Education
  • J.D., University of Texas at Austin School of Law (1993) (with honors; Order of the Coif; Chief Articles Editor, Texas Law Review; Champion, Hutcheson Moot Court Competition; Intern, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals)
  • A.B., Harvard College (1990) (cum laude; Wendell Phillips Scholar as the class's most promising public speaker; National college debate championship on the fifth-ranked team of the decade)
Achievements
  • Named a "Defender" as one of 15 leading defense lawyers in Dallas, Dallas Business Journal, 2009
  • Best Lawyers in Dallas, D Magazine, 2007, 2008, 2009 
  • Recognized as a Texas SuperLawyer by Law & Politics Magazine and Texas Monthly yearly since that listing began in 2004
  • Best Lawyers in Dallas Under 40, D Magazine, 2004, 2006
  • Elected member, American Law Institute (youngest member in the country when selected), Special Committee on Technology

Additional Information
Publications
  • Co-Author, "In the Wake of Stolt-Nielsen, The Supreme Court Dives Into Multiple Arbitration-Related Cases," U.S. Mexico Bar Association (August 2010).
  • Co- Author, "Fifth Circuit Survey: Evidence," 42 Tex. Tech. L. Rev. 749 (2010).
  • "'Single Business' Liability and International Business in Texas," Texas Transnational Law Quarterly (December 2009).
  • Co-Author, "Contractual Waiver of the Right to Remove to Federal Court: How Policy Judgments Guide Contract Interpretation." 29 Rev. Litig. 327 (2010).
  • "Initial Pleadings," DAYL Dicta (September 2009).
  • "Outer Bounds of Arbitration," Commercial & Business Litigation (Spring 2009).
  • "Appeals Plus: The Appellate Practice of the 21st Century," Dallas Bar Association Headnotes (April 2009).
  • "Forum Non Conveniens and Mexico," U.S. Mexico Bar Association (March 2009).
  • "Constructing Liability: Maintaining Corporate Protection," Fort Worth Business Journal (March 9, 2009)
  • "Outer Bounds of Arbitration in Texas," Arbitration World (January 2009).
  • Co-Author, "Loud Rules," 34 Pepperdine L. Rev. 715 (2007).
  • "Practical Issues in International Litigation," in Inside the Minds: International Trade and Transactions Client Strategies (2007).
  • Co-Author, "International Litigation in Texas and Ontario: Two Systems Compared," Texas Transnational Law Quarterly (September 2006).


PRACTICES & INDUSTRIES
Appellate, Constitutional and Governmental Litigation
Aviation Industry
Commercial Disputes
Construction and Engineering
Newsstand



Terms and Conditions of Use • Privacy Policy • Copyright and Trademark Notice • Use of Cookies • RSS 
©1996-2010 K&L Gates LLP. All Rights Reserved.

K&L Gates is comprised of multiple affiliated entities: a limited liability partnership with the full name K&L Gates LLP qualified in Delaware and maintaining offices throughout the United States, in Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany, in Beijing (K&L Gates LLP Beijing Representative Office), in Dubai, U.A.E., in Shanghai (K&L Gates LLP Shanghai Representative Office), in Tokyo, and in Singapore; a limited liability partnership (also named K&L Gates LLP) incorporated in England and maintaining offices in London and Paris; a Taiwan general partnership (K&L Gates) maintaining an office in Taipei; a Hong Kong general partnership (K&L Gates, Solicitors) maintaining an office in Hong Kong; a Polish limited partnership (K&L Gates Jamka sp. k.) maintaining an office in Warsaw; and a Delaware limited liability company (K&L Gates Holdings, LLC) maintaining an office in Moscow. K&L Gates maintains appropriate registrations in the jurisdictions in which its offices are located. A list of the partners or members in each entity is available for inspection at any K&L Gates office.

Portions of this Web site may contain Attorney Advertising under the rules of some states. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.