David Whitaker

Counsel, BuckleySandler LLP

and former Counsel, Wells Fargo

David Whitaker is counsel in the Washington, DC, office of BuckleySandler LLP. Mr. Whitaker advises financial services companies in transactional, legal and regulatory matters. Mr. Whitaker’s practice also focuses on assisting firms in their efforts to structure and implement platforms and processes that conform to the requirements of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN), the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), other applicable state and federal laws, and various industry standards.

Prior to joining BuckleySandler, Mr. Whitaker was Senior Company Counsel in the Strategy & Operational Risk Group at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Before joining Wells, Mr. Whitaker was Of Counsel in Goodwin Procter’s Corporate Department and a member of its Financial Services Practice, specializing in electronic commerce issues and financial services law. He has extensive experience with practical application of laws governing electronic banking, letters of credit, payment systems and commercial and consumer financing. Before joining Goodwin Procter, Mr. Whitaker was Assistant General Counsel at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) in McLean, Virginia. He has also served as a Vice President at Star Bank, N.A. (now U.S. Bancorp), headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio; Vice President and Assistant Director of Legal Services at Bank of Oklahoma, N.A.; and in private practice as a partner at Boesche, McDermott & Eskridge, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Mr. Whitaker is a member of the American Law Institute. He was named a “2009 Mortgage Banking Technology All-Star” by Mortgage Banking Magazine, in recognition of his pivotal role in “transform[ing] e-mortgages from an idea into a product.” Mr. Whitaker is also a member of the American Bar Association's Business Law Section, and the Business Law Section's Committee on the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC"), Committee on the Law of Commerce in Cyberspace, and UCC Subcommittee on Letters of Credit. He has co-chaired the Cyberspace Committee’s Task Force on Federated Identity Management.

Mr. Whitaker was the Reporter for the Standards and Procedures for electronic Records and Signatures (“SPeRS”). He also served as Reporter for the Mortgage Bankers Association white paper “Security Interests in Transferable Records.” He was an active participant in the drafting of Revised Articles 5 and 9 of the UCC. He participated in the drafting of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, where he chaired the Task Force on Scope and served as reporter for the Task Force. Mr. Whitaker also advised industry participants on the creation and drafting of the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act.

Mr. Whitaker holds a B.A. with High Honor in International Relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University, and a J.D. from the University of Illinois (cum laude). He has also studied international business law and British constitutional law at Queen's College, Oxford University, England.