David W. Bowker
Partner and Chairman of the International Litigation Practice, WilmerHale
David has more than twenty years’ experience handling high-stakes disputes through litigation, arbitration, and mediation before domestic and international tribunals, state and federal trial courts, courts of appeal, and the United States Supreme Court. He specializes in art, antiquities, cultural property, and cultural heritage matters involving governments, museums, universities, artists, collectors, galleries, art advisory services, trusts, estates, and related parties.
He has successfully resolved through litigation, arbitration, mediation, or negotiation some of the highest-profile art disputes in the United States, including those involving the alleged looting of antiquities and cultural property, and ownership claims to masterpiece works of art transferred during periods of armed conflict, war, revolution, and civil unrest.
He is an adjunct professor of international law and dispute resolution at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) and Georgetown University Law School. He serves on the United States Department of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law. He is Vice President and Member of the Governing Council of the American Society of International Law; and he is a member of the International Bar Association, the Washington Foreign Law Society, the American Law Institute, and the American Bar Association. He is a board member of Hostage US and an honorary board member of the Washington Foreign Law Society.
Before joining the firm, David served as an Attorney-Adviser for the Law of Armed Conflict in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the United States Department of State. Prior to that, he served on the staff of the United States National Security Council in the White House.
He has a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) (1998), a Master of Arts in Law & Diplomacy degree (M.A.L.D.) from The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University (1998), and a Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) (1993).
Jurisdiction: U.S.A.