David K. Willingham

Willingham, a partner who focuses on white collar criminal defense and complex litigation matters for King & Spalding LLP, moved to the firm in April 2020 as part of a 15-partner cohort from Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. His current and recent high-profile clients include a parent charged in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions corruption prosecution, Molina Healthcare Inc. and RD Legal Capital LLC.

"It was a great opportunity to come to a great platform here at King & Spalding," he said. "I have unbelievably wonderful colleagues and eye-opening national and international opportunities."

Willingham represents Davina Isackson, who along with her husband admitted pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud to get their daughters admitted to the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Southern California as student-athletes. U.S. v. Isackson, 1:19-cr-10115 (D. Mass., filed March 6, 2019).

Isackson is cooperating with government prosecutors, Willingham said. "She absolutely has fulfilled her obligations. The government wanted the cooperation deal made public to make a point. Sentencing is likely after the trials next year; she is obliged to testify if the government asks. Her husband is a cooperator also." Prosecutors are seeking home confinement and a fine, according to government documents.

Willingham recalled Davina Isackson phoning him from Spain on the day the indictments were announced, seeking urgent help for her husband, who had been arrested. Willingham was in his car, driving to work. "I told her we'd figure this out and it would be OK. The immediate problem was how to help her husband in custody. I started making calls from my car. If you know how the system works, you can figure out who the arresting agent was. I facilitated getting him out on bond."

He also represents physician's assistant Monica Berlin, serving as lead counsel in her defense after she was arrested last year as part of the government's opioid addiction epidemic investigation known as Operation Hypocritical Oath. U.S. v. Berlin, 2:19-mj-00494 (C.D. Cal., filed Feb. 13, 2019).

After a series of defense presentations to prosecutors, the government reversed course and agreed to divert Berlin's case from the justice system. The matter will be dismissed upon Berlin's completion of the diversion period. "The government's theory was that she was part of the opioid distribution problem, but we successfully turned them around and got a super-rare post-indictment diversion. It was lucky we had the right cards to play."

Willingham called the matter "a double whammy" because it involved both an indictment and a public announcement by prosecutors. "I never had such a result before in a publicized case," he said. "It was very, very rare in the federal criminal system."

-- John Roemer