David H. Lichter is an experienced litigator whose work is substantially devoted to mediating and arbitrating business disputes, mediating securities arbitrations and litigating business disputes and class actions. Mr. Lichter has mediated and arbitrated more than 1200 matters, is engaged regularly by plaintiffs and defendants and mediates and arbitrates cases throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico. He is A/V rated by Martindale-Hubbell®, the highest available rating, and is included in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the specialty of Mediation and Arbitration, the 2012 edition of Florida Super Lawyers in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution, the 2011 Florida Trend magazine’s Florida Legal Elite in the field of mediation, and is a recipient of the 2009 Business Leader Media Movers and Shakers award.

Mr. Lichter is certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Certified Civil Circuit and County Court mediator and by the United States District Courts for the Middle and Southern District of Florida as a Certified Mediator and is listed in the Register of Mediators for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. He serves as an approved arbitrator on the Commercial Panel and as a mediator for the American Arbitration Association, is a mediator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is a member of the Panel of Distinguished Neutrals for the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, is certified as a program arbitrator and mediator for the Florida Bar and is a qualified arbitrator under Florida Law. Additionally, Mr. Lichter is a member of the Florida Academy of Professional Mediators, the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and the Florida Circuit-Civil Mediator Society. He has also acted as special master in both state and federal court and as an independent investigator in a shareholder derivative action in state court. He was appointed in 2010 as one of four mediators to mediate 1600 preference actions pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of Florida in a large bankruptcy matter and was appointed in 2011 by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida as one of two mediators to mediate 570 preference actions in another large bankruptcy. The particular substantive areas in which he has mediated, arbitrated, litigated or served as a special master include securities, real estate related matters, contracts, common law breach of fiduciary duty and fraud, employment, legal professional liability, trade secrets, trademark and copyright infringement and counterfeiting, covenants not to compete, tortious interference, civil forfeiture, franchises, dealer termination, antitrust, civil rights, False Claims Act, probate, RICO, ADA, Truth in Lending Act, RESPA, corporate derivative actions, insurance coverage disputes and other common law business torts.

Mr. Lichter is a past Vice Chair of the Securities Litigation Committee of the Dade County Bar and past Chair of the Florida Bar’s Federal Court Practice Committee. He has lectured numerous times on mediation at the Annual Conference of the Florida Dispute Resolution Center and spoken on mediation at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Annual Conference and the Annual Seminar of the Securities Industry Association Compliance and Legal Division. Mr. Lichter has published several articles on mediation.

Mr. Lichter graduated with honors from Brandeis University in 1979 and received his law degree with honors from Georgetown University Law Center in 1982 where he participated on the Editorial Board of the American Criminal Law Review. Following graduation, Mr. Lichter served as law clerk for two years to the Honorable Howell W. Melton, United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida. After his clerkship, Mr. Lichter worked for nearly five years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in Miami where he tried numerous civil and criminal trials and was responsible for many appeals. After leaving the U.S. Attorney’s office, Mr. Lichter joined the Miami law firm of Kenny Nachwalter where he became a shareholder and practiced complex commercial and intellectual property litigation, securities arbitration and mediation for 14 years. In 2003, Mr. Lichter established David Lichter & Associates, P.A. and in 2006 formed his current law firm, Higer Lichter & Givner, LLP.