Daniel A. Saunders

Daniel A. Saunders is a leading trial and appellate lawyer focusing on a wide variety of complex business litigation, entertainment, employment, and white collar cases.  Dan represents corporate and individual clients in a broad range of high-stakes civil and criminal litigation and government, regulatory, and internal investigations.  Dan has tried more than 40 jury trials and arbitrations, and has briefed and/or argued more than 50 appeals before various U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal. 

Dan is recognized as a top practitioner by Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers and by California Super Lawyers for twelve consecutive years (2011-2022).  He has also been recognized as a Leading Litigator in America by Lawdragon and as a top entertainment litigator in Variety’s “Legal Impact Report,” which spotlights leading attorneys in the entertainment industry.

Dan spent 14 years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, serving in a number of positions, including as Deputy Chief of the Violent & Organized Crime Section.  While at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Dan prosecuted hundreds of cases covering a broad range of federal criminal offenses, including the highly publicized RICO/wiretapping prosecution of private investigator Anthony Pellicano and his associates and the RICO prosecution of Hollywood nightclub owner Eddie Nash for conspiring to commit the infamous “Wonderland murders.”  Dan received the Prosecutor of the Year award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association, as well as the Department of Justice's Director's Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Dan has taught trial advocacy and evidence courses at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, and also served for seven years as a professor of constitutional law and criminal procedure at Glendale University College of Law.  He has lectured on the American criminal justice system and prosecution of organized crime, money laundering, and public corruption cases at international conferences in Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, the Czech Republic, and the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest, Hungary.

He clerked for U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Boochever.