David W. Fleming has been counsel to Latham & Watkins since 1992. An attorney for 48 years, he has represented clients in various areas including banking, real estate, estate and securities practices, bringing to market over $2 billion in securities and commercial paper.
Mr. Fleming was the instigator of the successful charter reform movement in the City of Los Angeles. In 1997, he and then L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, co-chaired a voters' initiative to reform Los Angeles City government, culminating in the creation of an elected citizens' Charter Reform Commission which drafted a new charter for the City of Los Angeles and was overwhelmingly adopted by the City's voters in 1999.
He currently serves on the Board of the Southern California Metropolitan Water District covering all of Southern California representing the City of Los Angeles.
In 2003, he was appointed a trustee of the James Madison Foundation by President George W. Bush. The 12-member Foundation (comprised of four members of the US Senate and House of Representatives, two State Governors, two Federal Appellate justices, the Secretary of Education and two private citizens) bestows scholarships on high school teachers in all 50 states to promote the teaching of the founding of our nation.
In 2005, he was appointed by the then newly-elected Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, to represent the City of Los Angeles as a Director of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (the "MTA"). He has served as Chair of MTA's Finance and Budget Committee and serves on its Planning and Operations Committees.
Mr. Fleming chaired the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce in 2007, and in 2008 was the creator and the founding chair of the Los Angeles County Business Federation (BIZFED), an organization of 72 chambers of commerce and trade groups with 200,000 business members located throughout L.A. County. In 2009, he, along with former California Governor Pete Wilson, serve as the co-chairs of the Southern California Leadership Council, a group composed of business leaders throughout Southern California together with former California Governors Gray Davis, Pete Wilson, George Deukmejian and, until he became Attorney General, Jerry Brown.
From 2005-2007, he served as the Chairman of the California Regional Leadership Foundation, a statewide organization of regional civic entrepreneurs addressing regional problems. He is the current Chair of L.A. Project Grad, an intensive K-12 educational program helping minority public school students achieve excellence in their educational careers by graduating from both high schools and colleges.
Mr. Fleming was Vice-Chairman of the California Transportation Commission (the "CTC") on which he served from 1996 through 1999, appointed by the Governor of California. He chaired the CTC's Public Transit Committee, overseeing major public transit projects throughout California, allocating billions of dollars of federal and state gas taxes and voter-approved bonding revenues for the state's highways, rail, and water and air transportation infrastructure.
He recently served as one of five commissioners of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. From 1993 to 2001, he served as President of the Los Angeles City Board of Fire Commissioners, overseeing the operations of the City's Fire Department. He has served on the Los Angeles County Business Licensing Commission, the Los Angeles County Judicial Procedures Commission and the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.
He is a past chairman and currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), the largest economic development organization of its kind in the nation. He served as the chair of Valley Industry & Commerce Association (VICA) from 1988 through 1990. Since 1996, he has chaired the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, a business and industrial collective formed following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, comprised of all of the Chambers of Commerce together with other leading business groups within the greater San Fernando Valley area of the County of Los Angeles.
He serves as Chairman of the Board of Valley Presbyterian Hospital, a 380 bed non-profit, non-sectarian, community-owned heath center, a position he has held for the past 21 years. He serves on the national Board of Trustees of the Reason Foundation and is the Vice-Chair of the Children's Planning Council of Los Angeles County, an organization he was instrumental in creating. The Children's Planning Council coordinates the funding of over $5 billion of federal and state money annually to aid children and families in need throughout Los Angeles County. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the California Community Foundation, an 80-year old philanthropic organization overseeing a fund of over $1 billion dedicated to charities. He chairs its audit committee.
In addition, Mr. Fleming is, or has been, a Director of the following organizations: The Los Angeles Police Foundation, the Children's Bureau of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Children's Planning Council Foundation, the Civic Alliance, California State University, Northridge (CSUN) Foundation, the New Majority, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, The California Assembly Speaker's Commission on State Government, The L.A. Mayor's Economy & Jobs Committee and the Fernando Award Foundation. He is the vice-chair of the $125 million campaign to build the new Performing Arts Center at CSUN. He serves on the board of the Advisors to the Dean of UCLA Law School.
A member of the California State Bar since 1959, he is of counsel to Latham & Watkins, the 3rd largest law firm in the US and fifth largest in the world. He is a past recipient of the prestigious Fernando Award, bestowed annually on a San Fernando Valley resident in honor of a lifetime of volunteer service. In 2000, he was given the Nellie Reagan Award for volunteerism, named after the late President Reagan's mother. Over the past 40 years, he has devoted over 70,000 hours of service to civic, community, charitable and government organizations. He has been honored by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, the Jewish National Fund, the American Jewish Committee, the L.A. Family Housing Foundation, the Southern California Biotech Institute, the California Jaycees, the Los Angeles County League of Woman Voters, various bar associations, the United Chambers of Commerce, the Valley Interfaith Council and many other philanthropic and civic organizations. He is the recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from CSUN and Augustana College, his alma mater.
Born and raised in Davenport, Iowa, he moved to the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles in 1956 and graduated from UCLA Law School in 1959. A member of the Southern California Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, he and his wife, Jean, have two adult sons residing in Southern California. Over the years, they have personally donated over $5 million to a wide array of charities, including Valley Presbyterian Hospital, CSUN and UCLA Law School.