David Beam
(he/him)
Washington Improv TheaterDavid is a lawyer specializing in financial services regulation, with a focus on payment systems, credit, and financial technology.
David is a partner in the DC office of Mayer Brown LLP. His practice focuses on regulation of companies in the financial services industry, particularly in the payments, credit, and fintech sectors. He represents clients in contract negotiations, advises them on regulatory compliance and other legal matters, and represents them before federal and state regulatory agencies.
He has received numerous professional accolades, including a nationwide Band 1 ranking from Chambers in the area of Payments & Lending (Fintech) and a national Tier One ranking from Legal500 in the Fintech category.
David decided to take an improv class after watching his son’s middle school production of Peter Pan. Overcome with nostalgia for his long-ago performing arts days in school—and ignoring his kids’ warning that it was an impending mid-life crisis—he enrolled in an Level 1 class at WIT.
One year later, he’s dual-enrolled in two Level 4 sections (apparently, he is the first WIT student ever to dual enroll in two sections of the same class) and has added mastery of improv to his things-to-do-before-he-dies list. His only regret is that he hadn’t done it years earlier. He’s ecstatic to join the board of this fantastic organization and do his part to help its mission of bringing the wonderful art of improv to as many people in the DC community as possible. He’s especially keen on proselytizing improv to his fellow lawyers in DC, highlighting how it can help them hone life skills like expressing (not just describing) emotions and having a functional conversation with someone who agrees with you.
David lives in Falls Church with his wife and two teenage sons. Besides improv, his hobbies include taking his kids to their activities, having fun with power tools (sure that one day he’ll be able to build something that his wife allows to be displayed in the house), and remembering when he used to have time to play video games. David is originally from Maine, and still considers himself to be from there—even though his friends and family “back home” think that after two-plus decades living in DC he now qualifies as “from away.”