Derek's passion for holding large corporations accountable for wrongdoing has helped recover billions of dollars for consumers, retirees, governments and institutions. He has served in leadership roles in major complex cases across the country.
Currently, Derek is co-lead counsel in In re Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, the MDL litigation against Facebook stemming from the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal. In the case, after years of hard-fought litigation, he and the team achieved an historic $725 million settlement, the largest amount paid to date to resolve a privacy-based class action.
In addition to his class action work, Derek helps manage the Keller Rohrback team representing state and local government entities in a number of matters involving significant public health crises. For example, Derek leads the Keller Rohrback team litigating government cases against opioid manufacturers and distributors in The National Prescription Opioid Litigation. In the Opioid MDL, Derek serves on the Expert and Law & Briefing Committees and lead the litigation against a major opioid manufacturer. He also represents school districts and counties in litigation against the e-cigarette company, JUUL, for targeting and addicting youth, and in litigation against social media companies for causing a youth mental health epidemic. These cases are quintessential examples of the type of litigation Derek and the Keller Rohrback team fervently pursue: corporate fraud and malfeasance causing serious harm to the public.
Derek’s other notable cases include the Wells Fargo unauthorized account consumer class action for which Derek served as lead counsel. In the Wells Fargo case, Derek and the Keller Rohrback team achieved a $142 million settlement requiring the bank to refund all improper fees and provide first-of-its kind credit damage reimbursement, among other relief, to Wells Fargo customers; multi-billion dollar mortgage-backed securities cases on behalf of the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago, Indianapolis and Boston; ERISA class cases on behalf of employees whose retirement savings were decimated by corporate fraud and abuse on the part of Enron, WorldCom, Countrywide, and Washington Mutual, among others. He has also litigated fraud, RICO, and antitrust cases against drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers, and insurance companies for conspiring to drive up the cost of life-saving medications such as insulin.
Many of Derek’s cases have required coordinating with state and federal agencies involved in litigation that parallels cases pursued by Keller Rohrback, including state attorneys general, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Labor. In addition, Derek has extensive experience negotiating complex, multi-party settlements, and coordinating with the many parties and counsel necessary to accomplish this. He is frequently asked to speak at national conferences about class actions, public health litigation, ERISA, and other complex litigation topics.
Before joining Keller Rohrback, Derek served as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael R. Hogan, U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. He was also a trial attorney in the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. where he prosecuted discrimination cases on behalf of the United States.
1994, Washington 1998, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington 1998, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington 2002, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan 2004, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois 2010, United States Supreme Court 1998, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 2006, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit 2009, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit 2010, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit 2012, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 2013, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 2014, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit 2017, New York
Middlebury College - B.A., summa cum laude, 1989, American Literature, Stolley-Ryan American Literature Prize (highest departmental honors), Phi Beta Kappa University of Washington School of Law - J.D., with honors, 1994
King County Bar Association, Member Washington State Bar Association, Member American Bar Association, Member; Employment Benefits Committee Member National Employment Lawyers Association, Member American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, Cooperating counsel
Listed as Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2018 Named to Washington Super Lawyers list, 2007-2012, 2014-2018 AV, Peer Review Top-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell Recipient of the 2010 Burton Award for Legal Achievement for the article, The Continuing Applicability of Rule 23(b)(1) to ERISA Actions for Breach of Fiduciary Duty,. Pension & Benefits Reporter, Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (Sept. 1, 2009). Selected to Rising Stars list in Super Lawyers - Washington, 2005-2007 U.S. Department of Justice Award for Public Service, 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Achievement Award, 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program Hire, 1994
Antitrust and Trade Regulation
Class Action and Consumer Litigation Consumer and Data Privacy Protection Employee Benefits and Retirement Security Employment Law Environmental Litigation Financial Products and Services Governments and Municipalities Institutional Investors Mortgage Put-Back Litigation Securities Whistleblower
