David W Trotter
David W. Trotter is a 1977 graduate of Occidental College and a 1980 graduate of Stanford Law School. Upon graduating from Stanford, Mr. Trotter received a Henry Luce Foundation scholarship and spent a year working for the Attorney General of Hong Kong. He was an associate and senior litigation counsel with Pillsbury Madison & Sutro LLP from 1981 to 1998. He joined Bowles & Verna in September 1998. In November 2006 Mr. Trotter was elected to a four-year term on the Moraga Town Council.
Mr. Trotter has a broad range of civil litigation and arbitration/ADR experience. He has tried and managed complex environmental, land use, real estate, eminent domain/regulatory taking, construction and general commercial and business litigation and administrative/regulatory proceedings. As a lobbyist, Mr. Trotter has represented natural resource, mining and intellectual property companies with respect to proposed legislation and administrative rulemaking matters before agencies and legislative bodies at the federal, state and local levels. Mr. Trotter’s practice also includes appellate and post-trial litigation.
Areas of Practice
- Business & Commercial Law
- Banking & Finance Law
- Litigation & Appeals
- Real Estate Law
- Securities Law
Bar Admissions
- California, 1981
- U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court Southern District of California
Education
- Stanford Law School, Stanford, California
- J.D. - 1980
- Occidental College, Los Angeles, California
- B.A. - 1977
- Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
Published Works
- The Taking of Private Property Without Just Compensation: A New Constitutional Price Tag (Co-Author), Barclays Law Journal, January, 1988
- Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council: Good News for Property Rights (Co-Author), California Environmental Law Reporter, August, 1992
Honors and Awards
- Henry Luce Foundation Scholarship
Professional Associations and Memberships
- California State Bar, Member
- United States Court of Federal Claims Bars, Member
- American Bar Association, Member, Section of Litigation
- San Francisco Bar Association, Member
Past Employment Positions
- Hong Kong Government, Attorney General's Chambers















