Biography
DAVID A. SEARLES, of counsel to the firm, is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth and Sixth Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the District of Maryland, the District of Colorado, the Northern District of Oklahoma, and Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, as well as the state courts of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of the American University School of Law, Washington, D.C., where he served on law review.
Following graduation from law school, Mr. Searles was an attorney for Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, where he specialized in consumer and bankruptcy law. In 1990, he successfully argued the first consumer reorganization bankruptcy case considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, Pennsylvania v. Davenport, 495 U.S. 552 (1990), and has served as lead counsel and presented arguments in numerous consumer law cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. From 1992 through 1997, Mr. Searles was associated with the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, where his practice focused on Chapter 11 bankruptcy and creditors’ rights. Thereafter, he was a member of Donovan Searles, LLC until 2011, specializing in consumer class action litigation.
In 2005, Mr. Searles was awarded the Equal Justice Award at the Community Legal Services Breakfast of Champions for his role in directing funding for legal assistance for low-income residents of Philadelphia. Mr. Searles has served as the Pennsylvania contributor to Survey of State Class Action Law (ABA Section of Litigation – 2010), and as a contributing author of Pennsylvania Consumer Law (2010). He has taught advanced bankruptcy law at the Rutgers University School of Law – Camden, business law at Widener University and bankruptcy law at Pierce Junior College, Philadelphia. He is a past co-chairperson of the Education Committee of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference. Mr. Searles has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for many years.