Profile
Daniel P. Elms is a Shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Dallas office. Dan litigates and arbitrates complex business for clients of all sizes across myriad industries. He guides clients through the entire business litigation and arbitration process, including pre-trial litigation strategy and discovery, trial, and post-trial proceedings. Dan has substantial first-chair trial experience on jury, non-jury, and injunction matters, and his arbitration experience includes American Arbitration Association, International Chamber of Commerce, and FINRA proceedings, among others. Dan’s experience includes appellate work, having briefed and argued to various state and federal courts of appeal.
Dan also serves as outside litigation general counsel for a multinational orthopedics and biologics manufacturer.
Concentrations
- Breach of contract and business torts
- Earnout and deferred compensation
- Franchisee and distributor/reseller disputes, including statutory protection claims
- Financial services and hedge fund litigation, including counterparty and investor disputes
- Securities litigation, including broker-dealer and registered representative disputes
- Trade secrets and restrictive covenants
Capabilities
Experience
- Take-nothing arbitration award against claimant, combined with $570,000 counterclaim award, on claim of breach of cross-border franchise agreement.
- Nominal damages judgment from the Alaska Supreme Court on appeal of $51 million jury trial verdict.°
- Take-nothing ICC arbitration award on $65 million claim arising out of client’s refusal to take delivery of commercial aircraft because of the manufacturer's insolvency; also obtained $1.7 million counterclaim award for non-performance of maintenance obligations.°
- Take-nothing jury verdict and judgment on breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, and DTPA claims arising out of client’s installation of accounting software.°
- $1.8 million arbitration award for defendant’s breach of oil and gas exploration joint-venture agreement.°
- $1 million judgment for breach of consulting agreement relating to a private investment in public equities transaction.°
- $800,000 bench trial verdict and judgment for breach of warranty and failure to indemnify claims arising out of a foreign government’s seizure of assets purchased by client from defendant.°
- Summary judgment on $45 million fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claim by investors relating to wind-down of a hedge fund.°
- Summary judgment on $14 million tortious interference claim arising out of syndicated lenders’ non-consent to a debtor’s asset sale and debt refinancing.°
- Summary judgment on fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty claims arising out of workers’ compensation insurance agreement; also obtained $1 million counterclaim judgment for unpaid retrospectively-calculated premiums.°
°The above representations were handled by Mr. Elms prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Texas Super Lawyers, 2011-2020
- Selected, D Magazine, “Best Lawyers in Dallas – Business Litigation,” 2017
- Honored, American Bar Association Section of Litigation, “Outstanding Subcommittee Chair (for Chairmanship of the Business Torts & Unfair Competition Subcommittee),” 2013-2014
- State Bar of Texas, 1997-Present
- American Bar Association, 1997-Present
- Member, Litigation Section, 1997-Present
- Member, Business and Corporate Litigation Committee, 2009-Present
- Member, Business Torts & Unfair Competition Committee, 2009-Present
- Member, Business Law Section, 1997-Present
- Member, Litigation Section, 1997-Present
- Member Texas General Counsel Forum Board, 2016-2018
- Member, Greater Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, 2016-2018, 2022-Present
- Member, Talent Pipeline Policy Task Force, 2017
- Past Member, College of the State Bar of Texas
- Past Member, World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth
- Past Participant, Dallas Bar Association Law in the Schools Program
- Past Member, Adult Basic Education, National Community Education Day
Credentials
-
J.D., Rutgers Law School
- Legal Research and Writing Teaching Assistant, 1996
- B.A., Texas Tech University
- Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
- Supreme Court of Texas
- Supreme Court of the United States