David H. Dickieson

David Dickieson has over 40 years of litigation experience. Mr. Dickieson came to Schertler Onorato Mead & Sears LLP in 2007 after spending 17 years heading up the Washington litigation team of a national law firm. In that role, Mr. Dickieson has been on the front line of numerous tax and commercial litigation matters across the United States.

The foundation for Mr. Dickieson's trial work was strengthened by his tenure at the United States Department of Justice Tax Division from 1984 to 1989. In 1988, Mr. Dickieson was the senior attorney assigned to the largest civil tax fraud case up to that time - In re Conti-Commodity Corp. --involving billions of dollars of phantom commodity trades intended to generate tax losses for commodities speculators. Mr. Dickieson's successful handling of that tax case led to an offer from a premier national tax law firm in 1989. 

Mr. Dickieson's private litigation practice has spanned virtually all forms of trial work. In 1990, Mr. Dickieson won a record jury verdict of $7.3 million in a case of optometric malpractice. He has represented clients in Bankruptcy Court, Tax Court, state courts, and federal courts.  Mr. Dickieson also has substantial experience in alternative dispute resolution through mediation or arbitration procedures. Mr. Dickieson represented the famous Swiss banker who received a $104 million whistleblower reward from the IRS for providing information about the Swiss bank, UBS.  Mr. Dickieson also has obtained favorable settlements in two recent accounting malpractice cases.  In 2015, Mr. Dickieson prevailed in a $4 million real estate dispute and recovered an award of over $215,000 in attorney fees from the opposing party.

Mr. Dickieson has taught continuing legal education courses in the area of legal ethics and he served as the ethics counselor for his previous law firm for over 15 years.  Mr. Dickieson addressed the issue of Foreign Bank Account liability issues in a national ABA Tax Section panel discussion in September 2012 and in follow up panels in 2013 and 2014. Active in community programs, Mr. Dickieson is on the board of directors of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and is currently working with the organization on an important Native American civil rights case.  Mr. Dickieson has spearheaded numerous pro bono legal activities including providing teams of lawyers for legal referral clinics for the disadvantaged sponsored by Bread For The City. He has received the Virginia State Bar Pro Bono Service Award for 2021 and 2022.

Admitted to Practice law in:1980, District of Columbia 1981, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia 1985, U.S. Claims Court, now called U.S. Court of Federal Claims 1990, Maryland 1990, Virginia 1990, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit 1991, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, 1991, U.S. District Court, District of Maryland 1992, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Virginia 1993, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit 1994, U.S. Tax Court 2000, Pennsylvania 2003, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit 2006, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Virginia.

Law School: University of Michigan, J.D., 1979. College: Cornell University, B.A., 1977.  Department of Justice experience: Trial Attorney, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1984-1988; Senior Trial Attorney, Office of Special Litigation, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1988-1989.