Daniel is co-chair of O’Melveny’s State Attorneys General Investigations and Litigation Group. He is an experienced litigator and strategic advisor who specializes in high-stakes litigation, government investigations and controversies, and regulatory matters. Daniel regularly handles government contract disputes, including bid protests at the state and local levels. His broad practice encompasses products liability, healthcare, environmental, technology, financial services, and white collar and investigation matters that could appear before government agencies.
Daniel also represents government agencies in appellate litigation, investigations, and regulatory counseling matters.
Daniel previously served as Chief of Policy and Senior Counsel to California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. In that position, he was a member of the four-person executive team that supervised and operated the 5,000-person California Department of Justice. As Harris’s primary legal policy advisor, Daniel was responsible for developing and executing the Attorney General’s policy initiatives and supervising some of the department’s most complex and high-profile matters, covering healthcare, technology and privacy, criminal justice, civil rights, environmental and consumer law. As a result, he has a deep understanding of the national state attorney general landscape and the best strategies for engagement with AG’s offices.
In 2009, Daniel was appointed by President Obama to serve at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). From 2009-2013, he worked as a litigation attorney for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and as Special Assistant to the General Counsel of HHS. In those roles, Daniel counseled CMS and HHS on Affordable Care Act implementation, advising on statutory authority and Administrative Procedure Act issues for regulations and guidance documents and served as HHS’ lead agency counsel on dozens of constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act, including the NFIB v. Sebelius case.
Daniel later served in the Obama White House as senior director of the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs, where he coordinated logistics, communications and policy between the President and his domestic cabinet agencies (including HHS and the U.S. Department of Justice).
Daniel maintains a dynamic pro bono practice and is active in several community organizations. He also serves as statewide chair of U.S. Senator Alex Padilla’s judicial evaluation commission.
In 2013, he won the national Hispanic Health Leadership Award from the National Hispanic Medical Association and in 2014 was selected by the Huffington Post as one of the 40 Under 40 Hispanics in American Politics. In 2016, he was selected by the American Bar Association as one of the Top 40 Young Lawyers in the United States. In 2017, he was named to Latino Leaders Magazine’s “Top Latino Lawyers”.
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- California
Court Admissions
- US District Court for the Northern, Central, and Eastern Districts of California
- US Court of Appeals, Second, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits
- US Supreme Court
Education
- George Washington University, J.D.
- University of Southern California, B.A.
Honors & Awards
- Recognized by Chambers USA for State Attorneys General (2023)
- Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a "Future Star" (2023-2024)
- Recommended by The Legal 500 US for State Attorneys General (2023)
- Named to the “Top 40 Under 40” list of California attorneys by the Daily Journal (2020)
- Named to Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of “Top Minority Attorneys in Los Angeles” (2020)
- Named to the 40 & Under Hot List for White-Collar Crime and Product Liability Litigation (2019-2022), General Litigation (2021) by Benchmark Litigation
- Named to Latino Leaders Magazine’s “Top Latino Lawyers” (2017)
Professional Activities
Speaking Engagements
- “The Regulator Perspective,” California Privacy Law, Practising Law Institute (October 2020)
- “The Regulator Perspective,” California Privacy Law, Practicising Law Institute (September 2019)