About David
David German built a layered academic foundation before entering the courtroom. He earned a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. He returned to California for law school and received his J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 2006. He continued at USC and completed a Ph.D. in ethics in 2009, a path that gave him grounding in theory as well as practice.
Early in his legal training he worked in federal courts. In 2004 he served as a judicial extern to Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit, and the following year he externed for Judge Margaret Morrow in the Central District of California. After law school he served as a pro se habeas clerk for the Central District of California in Los Angeles in 2006. Those experiences exposed him to appellate issues and federal procedure at an early stage of his career.
By 2012 German had moved into private practice and joined Newman Aaronson Vanaman LLP as a lawyer. He remained engaged in academic settings as well. In 2015 he was a Lecturer in Law at UCLA School of Law, teaching in the Special Education Clinic. His classroom work tracked with his practice interests and with the membership organizations he has been part of since 2012, including the Council of Parent Lawyers and Advocates and the California Association for Parent-Child Advocacy. He has been a member of the State Bar of California since 2007.
In 2020 he assumed a leadership role as Co-Managing Partner at Vanaman German LLP. That position involves supervising aspects of firm operations and guiding case strategy. His track record includes representation on matters that intersect education law and civil rights for students and families. He is comfortable in administrative hearings as well as state and federal courts where procedural detail matters.
Colleagues and former students describe him as methodical in preparation and focused on casework rather than rhetoric. His doctoral work in ethics informs how he approaches complex disputes about school services and accommodations. He has taught law students in clinic settings, where practical skills such as client interviewing and administrative advocacy are part of the curriculum.
He is licensed to practice in California and remains active in professional associations concerned with parent advocacy and special education. He currently practices in California handling special education and parent advocacy matters at Vanaman German LLP.
