Overview
“Davida Brook is one of the best lawyers there is. A steadfast advisor, a brilliant legal mind, and she fights like hell to win.”
John Poulos, CEO of Dominion Voting Systems
Davida Brook is a high-demand trial lawyer who is frequently brought in to help companies and individuals tackle their thorniest legal disputes.
Defamation Litigation
In 2023, acting as co-lead counsel, Ms. Brook and her team secured a historic $787.5 million settlement to resolve Dominion Voting System’s massive defamation lawsuit against Fox News Network on the very day a jury trial was to commence in Delaware Superior Court. Ms. Brook and her team filed the $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox on behalf of Dominion two years earlier over allegations that Fox made false statements that Dominion rigged the 2020 presidential election.
The milestone deal made media waves, receiving coverage from The New York Times (“the latest extraordinary twist in a case that has been full of remarkable disclosures”), The Washington Post (“one of the most highly-anticipated media trials in decades”), and Wall Street Journal (“the case was set to test the contours of modern media law”). Ms. Brook spoke to the LA Times about the win and was interviewed on MSNBC: Deadline, Anderson Cooper 360, and CBS Mornings. She was also was recognized as a Litigator of the Week by Law.com for the momentous result.
Ms. Brook is prosecuting similar defamation claims on behalf of Dominion against Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell/MyPillow, Patrick Byrne, One America News Network (OAN) and Newsmax TV. In these cases, she and her team have already defeated every motion to dismiss filed by the defendants.
Ms. Brook has handed several other high-profile defamation cases on behalf of well-known clients, including billionaire hedge fund founder Louis Bacon, for whom her team helped secure a $203 million award. Ms. Brook has also been involved in multiple defamation and related lawsuits involving the #metoo movement, all of which settled out of court.
Intellectual Property Work
Serving as co-lead counsel to the New York Times, in late 2023 Ms. Brook filed a groundbreaking copyright infringement action against Microsoft and OpenAI alleging that the companies illegally used millions of its articles to train ChatGPT. The landmark complaint marks the first time a newspaper publisher has sued the developers of a large-language model alleging that responses to user queries are unlawfully reproducing the newspaper’s content. Read more.
“Intelligent, articulate, and always well prepared. There isn’t anyone I rather have representing me in trial.”
Steven Lamar, Beats by Dre Concept creation & Founder, ROAM Audio
Back in California, Ms. Brook previously obtained a $25 million verdict (not including fees) for her client, Steve Lamar, after a three-week trial in LA Superior Court on his claims he was owed royalties from music moguls Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine on the sale of Beats Electronics headphones. Ms. Brook’s contributions to the case included leading a multi-day direct examination of leadoff witness Steve Lamar and convincing the California Court of Appeal to reverse an earlier summary judgment order that had dismissed the case (which ultimately paved the way to trial). Click here for a profile on Ms. Brook’s contribution to the case written by legal news publication, The Recorder.
Other Complex Litigation
Ms. Brook is co-leading a class action against PornHub parent company, MindGeek, over allegations that MindGeek violated federal sex trafficking and child pornography laws by knowingly posting, enabling the posting of, and profiting from thousands of pornographic videos featuring persons under the age of 18. The team overcame Section 230, and certified an international class of at least tens of thousands of victims who had their images uploaded to MindGeek’s websites.
Prior to her work on the Dominion cases, working pro bono work, Ms. Brook successfully represented then Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers in litigation brought to try and prevent the counting of every legally cast vote in the 2020 presidential election. Two of those cases were dismissed after Ms. Brook and her team filed motions to dismiss. A third case, brought by Donald Trump in Wisconsin against Governor Evers, was dismissed following a bench trial in which Ms. Brook and her team represented the Governor.
Background & Dedication to the Community
Ms. Brook was named among the top 200 lawyers in the nation by Forbes and a Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360 in 2024. She was also recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California in 2023 and 2022. Lawdragon named her among the country’s 500 Leading Litigators in 2023 and 2022 and Law360 recognized her as an MVP in 2023.
In addition to her robust docket of cases, Ms. Brook actively participates in a range of legal and philanthropic organizations in Los Angeles and nationwide such as the Federal Bar Association, of which she is Board Member. During her time at Stanford Law School, Ms. Brook co-founded Building a Better Legal Profession, a national organization that promotes diversity within the legal profession by compiling and publishing data on law firms’ commitment to the retention and promotion of women and minority attorneys.
Prior to joining Susman Godfrey, Ms. Brook served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Raymond C. Fisher in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ms. Brook is admitted to practice in California, all of the U.S. District Courts for California, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Wisconsin District Court, and the United States Circuit Courts for the Second, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits.
