Experience

Bob Davis is widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s leading legal authorities and litigators working across a broad spectrum of employment and ERISA issues. According to Chambers USA (2010), Bob “is a top flight litigator who is always looking around corners for his clients.”  Chambers USA (2007) also characterized Bob as a "‘terrific lawyer’ [who is] highly respected for his ERISA practice."

Chambers USA notes, too, that Bob is “definitely a key player in the labor and employment field,” and that “as well as being recognized for his employee benefits expertise, Bob . . . focuses on wage and hour compliance and litigation. . . Clients describe him as a ‘big-picture lawyer’ who ‘communicates an intelligent game plan.’”

Bob’s substantive areas of concentration include: ERISA litigation and investigation defense; FLSA and wage and hour class and collective action litigation defense; OSHA inspections and litigation defense; and electronic discovery in complex civil cases and investigations. 

He handles trial and appellate ERISA litigation and represents plans, fiduciaries, plan sponsors, and service providers in ERISA investigations and litigation. His victories in the ERISA area include the successful defense at trial, resulting in a defense judgment affirmed on appeal, of one of the first major “stock drop” cases; winning summary judgment, affirmed on appeal, on all of the substantial claims in a major LMRA § 301/ERISA class action; dismissal of a stock drop case complaint with prejudice against plaintiffs; and successful defense of several national-level ERISA investigations by the US Department of Labor.

Bob has been responsible for over 100 Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour cases, including collective action and class action certification and decertification issues, enforcement of arbitration agreements when class claims are involved, and notice and discovery in class cases.  His victories for employers include a precedent-setting appellate decision on the salary basis under the FLSA, successful coordination of 28 statewide FLSA and wage and hour cases through the Judicial Panel for Multi-District Litigation, and defeat of class certification in several cases.  Bob also has devised innovative structures for negotiated settlements.

Bob has substantial experience in OSHA regulatory and enforcement matters, including defense of employee fatality inspections; negotiation of pre-citation settlements; defense of “wall to wall” inspections in several manufacturing and processing settings; and proceedings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 1991 (Partner, 1991), Bob served as the Solicitor of Labor for the US Department of Labor (1989–1991) and as Chief of Staff to the US Secretary of Transportation (1983–1985).  Previously he served in senior positions in the US Department of Justice.

Education

Georgetown University Law Center, JD, magna cum laude, 1980; Editor, Georgetown Law Journal • Syracuse University, MPA, 1973 • Boston University, MA, 1972 • Brown University, AB, 1971

Admissions

• District of Columbia, 1980
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, and District of Columbia Circuits
• United States District Courts in over 30 districts