David Jaffe

Leaders in Law endorses David Jaffe as our exclusively recommended Foreign Investment Law expert in the USA – Michigan. If you wish to get in touch with David please use the contact information provided above.

David focuses on international expansion and joint ventures, critical disputes, in-house legal structure and strategy, succession and transition planning, compliance and private company governance.

Before starting Jaffe Counsel, David was Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Guardian Industries Corp., a $5 billion multinational manufacturing company. In 24 years at Guardian, he played a key role in its expansion from 5 countries to 27. David was responsible for Guardian’s worldwide legal function, its compliance and ethics program, corporate governance, shareholder relations, and crisis communications. He was also the corporate officer responsible for environmental matters.

David played a leading roles in Guardian’s transition and recapitalization following the death of owner and CEO William Davidson in 2009. Earlier in his career, he spent five years in Luxembourg as General Counsel of Guardian Europe, and served as General Counsel of a publicly traded affiliate.

Before joining Guardian, he was a partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn in Detroit. David served as a law clerk to Justice William Rehnquist at the Supreme Court of the United States and to Chief Judge James Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He attended the University of Chicago, where he received a J.D. with honors in 1981 and a B.A. in Economics with honors in 1978.

In 24 years as a business and legal leader at Guardian, David gained insight into the real world consequences of business and legal decisions. David was known for his integrity, business acumen and ability to work collaboratively across the business at all levels. He is effective across borders, cultures and legal systems.  His view that “there are no legal problems, only business problems with legal characteristics” resonates with clients who want practical counsel, not discourses on legalisms.

Beyond ability, integrity and people skills, business leadership requires judgment. In many challenging business situations, David has demonstrated sound judgment, the courage to act on that judgment, and the discipline not to rush to judgment.

David’s civic involvement has included serving as a board and executive committee member at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and Museum, Jewish Family Service, Music Hall Center for Performing Arts, JVS, The Roeper School, the International School of Luxembourg and the Detroit Urban League, as well as serving as Chair of the Jesuit Program for Living and Learning of Michigan and President of the Detroit Chapter of the American Jewish Committee. David has also served as a director at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.