David Helms is a commercial litigator with a broad range of experience in several specialized areas of the law including antitrust, health care, securities litigation, Telephone Consumer Protection Act/media law, and product liability. He represents health care systems, international medical device manufacturers, national banks, and an international tire manufacturer, giving him extensive experience in complex litigation matters such as national class actions and multi-district litigation. Mr. Helms counsels health care entities in a variety of contexts such as antitrust and false claims act investigations and lawsuits. He regularly advises both national and local broker-dealers and registered representatives on customer complaints and regulatory investigations. He also advises clients in numerous industries relating to claims and investigations of unfair competition and trade practices.
Mr. Helms appears in trial and appellate courts across the United States. For several years, he oversaw investigations and tried dozens of cases as special counsel to the Internal Affairs Division of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and in proceedings before the Board of Police Commissioners.
While often defending commercial entities, Mr. Helms also has obtained large awards on behalf of clients, including a record-setting $60 million jury verdict on behalf of a nonprofit community health clinic (the largest ever in the jurisdiction and one of the largest in the nation that year) and a seven-figure award for a former NFL player.
Mr. Helms authors articles and presents at seminars to banking and in-house counsel associations across the country. He is a faculty member for the National Business Institute and the American Conference Institute’s Drug and Medical Device Litigation Conference. The Missouri Bar Association also retained him to co-author chapters for the Missouri Bar CLE publications on tort law and damages. In addition, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit invited Mr. Helms to present at the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference. His peers selected him for inclusion in Missouri & Kansas Rising Stars® 2010-2012, St. Louis Business Journal named him among their “30 Under 30” Class of 2002.
As a respected member of the Firm, Mr. Helms has served on the Recruiting Committee for more than a decade, and is on the Firm’s E-Discovery Committee.