Daniel DeSouza, Esq.
Dan is a partner at CopyCat Legal PLLC and, while he wears many hats, he generally leads the Firm’s litigation team with respect to copyright, trademark, and other federal lawsuits in Florida and throughout the country. To that end, Dan is admitted to a ‘few’ state and federal courts – at some point, it will be easier to name those he is not admitted to as CopyCat Legal PLLC continues to expand into new jurisdictions to enforce the rights of its clients.
Dan and James D’Loughy established CopyCat Legal PLLC in 2019, but that wasn’t Dan’s first foray into the legal field. Prior to CopyCat, Dan established DeSouza Law, P.A. in 2014 (a business litigation law firm that Dan still runs in addition to CopyCat… because who needs time to sleep?), was an attorney with Becker & Poliakoff, PA from 2010 – 2014, and was an attorney with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP from 2004 – 2010. During his career, Dan has represented Fortune 100 companies in high stakes litigation with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, represented small mom & pop shops struggling to make due, and everyone else in-between. Regardless of the client, he believes that success over the years is largely attributed to providing top notch legal work together with giving each client individualized attention to understand his/her business and/or problems that led him/her to contact an attorney (lets face it, nobody wants to talk to an attorney if it can be avoided).
Dan has litigated hundreds of federal and state lawsuits throughout his career, taken/defended hundreds of party, non-party, and expert depositions, served as lead counsel on high stakes federal jury trials that resulted in favorable verdicts for his clients, and is regularly consulted to assist with hearings, research, and writing due to his unique understanding of the law and ability to thread arguments together persuasively. All in all, we think Dan is a pretty cool guy and a swell lawyer as well.
Bar Memberships
State
Florida
New York
District of Columbia
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Federal
United States Supreme Court; United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida; United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida; United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida; United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas; United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas; United States District Court for the Southern District of New York; United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York; United States District Court for the Northern District of New York; United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas; United States District Court for the District of Nebraska; United States District Court for the District of New Mexico; United States District Court for the District of Colorado; United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan; United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; United States District Court for the District of Maryland; United States District Court for the Western District of Texas; United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri; United States District Court for the District of Columbia; United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Education
The George Washington University Law School – J.D., 2004
Florida Atlantic University – B.A., Political Science, 2001