As the Pro Bono Director, David Daniels uses his more than 20 years of experience as a practicing attorney to connect private law firms and practitioners to Public Counsel’s mission of providing pro bono legal representation to the most vulnerable members of our community.
In 2006, Mr. Daniels joined Public Counsel as the Directing Attorney of the Homelessness Prevention Law Project, a position he held until being promoted to Pro Bono Director in October 2009.
Mr. Daniels came to Public Counsel with considerable background in land use, affordable housing advocacy, and litigation. After graduating from Georgetown University Law Center in 1987, Mr. Daniels spent the early part of his legal career as a general business litigator at private law offices in Century City. In 1992, Mr. Daniels left the private sector and took a position as a staff attorney with the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, where he focused on affordable housing and tenants’ rights by prosecuting and defending the Board’s policies in court.
From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Daniels continued his work on behalf of rent control jurisdictions as an attorney for the Los Angeles-based law firm of Richards, Watson & Gershon. In addition to his rent control practice at Richards, Watson, Mr. Daniels also served as Primary Assistant City Attorney and Planning Commission Attorney for such firm clients as Beverly Hills and La Habra Heights. Mr. Daniels later worked as Primary Assistant City Attorney and Planning Commission Attorney for such cities as Rancho Mirage and Coachella while employed at another prominent Southern California law firm, Green, De Bortnowsky & Quintanilla.
In more recent years, Mr. Daniels has represented developers in land use entitlement and litigation work throughout Northern and Southern California while employed as an attorney in the Government and Land Use Department at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Mitchell. Immediately prior to joining Public Counsel, Mr. Daniels was serving as the General Counsel to the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, where he continued to promote affordable housing by defending the directives of the Board in a variety of litigation and legislative matters.
