David A. Knotts

David Knotts is a partner in Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s San Diego office. He focuses his practice on shareholder class action litigation in the context of mergers and acquisitions, representing both individual shareholders and institutional investors. David is also part of the Firm’s Delaware Practice Group and has taken multiple cases to trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery. David has significant trial experience in high-stakes corporate litigation. 

David has been counsel of record for shareholders on a number of significant recoveries in courts throughout the country, including serving as the lead litigator on Chabot v. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., which culminated in a $192.5 million recovery for a class of Rite Aid investors. The Walgreens settlement was approved by the Middle District of Pennsylvania in February 2024 and resulted in the second largest securities recovery in Pennsylvania federal court history. That recovery represents a rarity in securities fraud litigation, whereby target-company investors obtained a significant cash recovery from an unaffiliated acquirer based on allegations that the acquirer issued misleading statements during the pendency of a merger.

David also served as the lead litigator in Murray v. EarthLink Holdings Corp., which, after six years of litigation, resulted in an $85 million settlement for former EarthLink stockholders in connection with the Windstream/EarthLink merger. The EarthLink settlement was approved by the Eastern District of Arkansas in February 2025 and, at the time, resulted in the largest securities class action recovery in the Eighth Circuit over the past five years.

In addition, David served among lead counsel in In re Rural/Metro Corp. S’holders Litig., which resulted in a groundbreaking $110 million post-trial recovery affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court, as well as In re Del Monte Foods Co. S’holders Litig. ($89.4 million), Websense ($40 million), In re Onyx S’holders Litig. ($30 million), and Harman ($28 million). Websense and Onyx are both believed to be the largest post-merger class settlements in California state court history. When David presented the settlement as lead counsel for the stockholders in Joy Global, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin noted that “this is a pretty extraordinary settlement, recovery on behalf of the members of the class. . . . [I]t’s always a pleasure to work with people who are experienced and who know what they are doing.” 

In addition to ongoing litigation work, David has taught a full-semester course on M&A litigation at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.

David has been named a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer by Lawdragon, has been named to the 40 & Under List and as a National Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation, and has been recognized as a Next Generation Partner and a Recommended Lawyer by The Legal 500. He has been honored for his pro bono work, receiving the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from the State Bar of California. 

David graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He was an Academic All-American in baseball at Neosho County Community College. David earned his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Cornell Law School.

• Litigation Star, Benchmark Litigation, 2026
• Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, Lawdragon, 2024-2025
• 40 & Under List, Benchmark Litigation, 2023
• 40 & Under Hot List, Benchmark Litigation, 2018, 2020-2021
• Next Generation Partner, The Legal 500, 2019-2021
• Recommended Lawyer, The Legal 500, 2017-2019
• Received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from The State Bar of California
• Named to the Casa Cornelia Inns of Court for his work representing unaccompanied minors in asylum hearings in federal immigration court

• Cornell Law School, J.D., 2004, cum laude
• University of Pittsburgh, B.S., 2001

• California
• United States District Courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of California
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Notable Cases