Associate

David C. Waterman

220 North Main Street, Suite 600Davenport, IA 52801 563.333.6648 dcwaterman@l-wlaw.com

Biography

David C. Waterman spent more than four years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida where he served as a federal prosecutor in the Appellate and Criminal Divisions. As a federal prosecutor, David argued appeals before the Eleventh Circuit and directed federal and local law enforcement agencies in grand jury and wiretap investigations. In 2020, David joined Lane & Waterman (the fifth generation in his family to practice at L&W). At L&W, David’s practice areas include civil litigation, white collar criminal defense, government regulatory and compliance, and appeals. David is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for the area of Criminal Defense: White Collar and in Great Plains Super Lawyers® as a Rising Star for the area of Civil Litigation. Based on his commitment to pro bono service, he was recognized by the Iowa State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Honor Role in 2022 and 2023 and by the Public Interest Law Initiative’s Pro Bono Volunteer Honor Role in 2023.

Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, David clerked for The Honorable Michael J. Melloy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2015 to 2016); The Honorable Mark W. Bennett, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa (2014 to 2015); and The Honorable John A. Jarvey, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa (2013 to 2014).

David earned his J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2013. While at UCLA, David served as a member of the National and State Moot Court Competition Teams and the Vice President of External Affairs of the Moot Court Honors Board. He externed for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California (Summer 2012) and for The Honorable David G. Sills, California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District (Summer 2011).

Prior to UCLA, he earned his M.Phil. in Political Thought and Intellectual History from the University of Cambridge in 2010. He earned his B.A. in Political Science, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from The George Washington University Honors Program in 2009, where he studied abroad for the 2007 to 2008 academic year at the University of Oxford.

David is an avid endurance sports enthusiast and has completed five Ironman triathlons. He was a varsity ice hockey player at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, and he was a member of the GWU Men’s Ice Hockey Team. David is active in the Quad Cities Community, currently serving as a Trustee of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra Board of Trustees and a Director of the YMCA of the Iowa Mississippi Valley Board of Directors. He also serves on the Iowa Defense Counsel Association’s Board of Editors for the Defense Update.

Practice Areas

Education

The George Washington University (B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, 2009)
University of Cambridge (M.Phil., 2010)
UCLA School of Law (J.D., 2013)

Experience

Law Clerk to the Honorable John A. Jarvey, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa (2013-2014)
Law Clerk to the Honorable Mark W. Bennett, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa (2014-2015)
Law Clerk to the Honorable Michael J. Melloy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2015-2016)
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida (2016-2020)

Admissions

Iowa – 2013
Southern District of Iowa – 2014
Northern District of Iowa – 2014
Illinois – 2022
Central District of Illinois – 2022
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit – 2022

Professional Associations

Member, Iowa State Bar Association
Member, Federal Bar Association
Member, American Bar Association
Member, Scott County Bar Association
Member, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Member, Iowa Defense Counsel Association

Member, Board of Editors for Defense Update (2021-present)

Member, Association of the Bar of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Member, The Dillon American Inn of Court, Chapter of the American Inns of Court Foundation
Fellow, Iowa State Bar Foundation
Member, Federal Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panels (2022)
Member, Illinois State Bar Association
Member, Rock Island County Bar Association

Honors

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Criminal Defense: White Collar)
Listed in Great Plains Super Lawyers Rising Stars (Civil Litigation)
Public Interest Law Initiative’s Pro Bono Volunteer Honor Roll (2023)
Iowa State Bar Association Pro Bono Honor Roll (2022)
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Oral Argument, Roger J. Traynor California Appellate Moot Court Competition (Spring 2012)
Outstanding Oral Advocate, UCLA Moot Court Competition (Fall 2011)

Community

Member, Board of Trustees, Quad City Symphony Orchestra (2021-Present)
Member, Board of Directors, YMCA of the Iowa Mississippi Valley (2022-Present)

Speeches & Publications

Co-Presenter, “Why Clerk? A View From Chambers on Judicial Clerkships,” University of Iowa College of Law (September 2015)

Co-Author, “A Fresh Look at Jurors Questioning Witnesses: A Review of Eighth Circuit and Iowa Appellate Precedents and an Empirical Analysis of Federal and State Trial Judges and Trial Lawyers,” 64 Drake Law Review 485 (2016)

Co-Presenter, “Allocution,” Twenty-Eighth Annual National Seminar on Federal Sentencing (August 2019)

Presenter, “Project Guardian,” Presented to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies on the United States Department of Justice’s initiative started in November 2019 designed to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws across the country, United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida (May 2020)

Co-Presenter, “Jury Selection for Defense (Civil),” Dillon Inn of Court (April 2022)

Co-Presenter, “Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952) (‘The Steel Seizure Case’) and the Limits of Executive Power,” Dillon Inn of Court (October 2022)

Presenter, “Eighth Circuit Civil Case Law Update: Insights From Ten Cases Arising Out of Iowa’s Federal District Courts,” 2024 Federal Practice Seminar in Des Moines, Iowa (December 2024)

Presenter, “Eighth Circuit Civil Case Law Update, and Hot Topics for Internal Investigations and Grand Jury Subpoenas,” Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers 63rd Annual Seminar in Des Moines, Iowa (February 2025)

Co-Presenter, “Voir Dire: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Dillon Inn of Court (March 2025)

News & Blog Posts

Our Attorneys feel passionately about educating and informing.

Lane & Waterman is excited to announce the following attorneys were selected for inclusion in the Great Plains Super Lawyers directory for 2024. The Great Plains Super Lawyers and Rising Stars listings include the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. 

On March 12, 2025, Lane & Waterman attorneys Jenny Juehring, […]

Last week, Bob Waterman, Mikkie Schiltz, and David Waterman presented […]

Lane & Waterman attorneys Samuel Skorepa and David Waterman have […]

Associate

David C. Waterman

Biography