Robert J. David was born in New Roads, Louisiana in August 1943. He graduated from St. Joseph’s High School and attended LSU and SLU, earning a B.A. degree in 1966. In 1969 he received his Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, where he served on the Loyola Law Review.
Representing patients and their families in medical malpractice cases is the principal focus of Robert’s practice. These cases have involved all aspects of medical negligence, including, but not limited to, birth trauma, delayed diagnosis, retained object/sponge/instrument, improper procedure, improper supervision, nursing/staff negligence and wrongful death. Robert has tried many cases to juries and judges across Louisiana.
Beginning his career with Gainsburgh, Benjamin law firm as a law clerk in 1968, Robert joined the firm as an associate in 1969 and practices with the same firm today.
Robert has served on the Adjunct faculty of the Loyola and Tulane Law Schools and served as a member of the Loyola Law School Alumni Board of Directors and the Loyola Law School Visiting Committee.
He has been named to Woodward/White’s “The Best Lawyers in America,” for twenty-two consecutive years. He is listed in “Louisiana Super Lawyers,” published by “Law and Politics,” in the specialty of medical malpractice and was named by Super Lawyers as one of the “Top Ten Attorneys in Louisiana.” He has, for many years, been listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Law, and for twenty-five consecutive years had been named as a “Best Lawyer in America”.
Since 1989, he has authored the continuing column on “Professional Liability” for the Louisiana Bar Journal, the official publication of the Louisiana State Bar Association. Robert has been a guest lecturer on behalf of the American Bar Association, American Law Institute, Louisiana State Bar Association, Louisiana Association for Justice, Federal Bar Association, New Orleans Bar Association, Louisiana State Medical Society, American Board of Professional Liability Lawyers, Lafayette Parish Medical Society, Orleans Parish Medical Society, American College of Cardiologists, West Jefferson Medical Center, Louisiana State University Medical School, and Louisiana Medical Mutual Insurance Company. He has made guest appearances on television and radio regarding issues of medical malpractice and breast cancer.
In 1989 he was appointed to the Medical/Legal Interprofessional Committee, a Joint Committee of the Louisiana State Medical Society and Louisiana State Bar Association, having served as Attorney Chairperson from 1991 – 1994.
Robert has also been called upon to serve on the Louisiana Disciplinary Board from 2001 – 2004 as a Hearing Committee member and then as a Committee Chairperson from 2004 – 2007, as a bar exam grader for the Committee on Bar Admissions, on the Loyola Law School Alumni Board of Directors, Loyola Law School Visiting Committee, Louisiana State Bar Association Insurance Committee, and he has served on the Board of Governors, Executive Committee and Counsel of Directors for the Louisiana Association of Justice. He was a member of the Attorney Disciplinary Committee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and also served as a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association Disciplinary Committee.
He was Chair of the Jurisprudence Committee of the New Orleans Bar Association and received its Outstanding Service Award. Robert served on the Ad Hoc Committee on Breast Cancer for the New Orleans Bar Association and was Chairperson of the Medical Malpractice Section of Louisiana Association for Justice. He was a member of the “Governor’s Commission on Medical Professional Liability.”
Robert was bestowed with the New Orleans Bar Association’s Arceneaux Professionalism Award and he was presented with the President’s Award from the Louisiana Association for Justice.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Fellow of the American Bar Endowment, a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys with Special Competence in Medical Professional Liability. He is a member of the Louisiana Bar Foundation, the American Bar Association, the New Orleans Bar Association, the Louisiana Association for Justice, and the American Association for Justice.
In addition to his professional commitments, Robert was a reader/recorder for the Louisiana Blind and Handicapped. From 1995-2000 he was on Holy Cross High School’s Board of Directors, and he served as President of Arden Cahill Academy’s Parent Teacher League from 1978-1979.
Robert and his wife Stella married in January 1967, they have two sons, and are proud grandparents. Robert, Jr. is an attorney practicing in the Juneau David firm, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Richard is a manager of the Structural Heart Division of Medtronics in Little Rock, Arkansas.
