William J. Lawrence

BILL LAWRENCE advises companies, boards of directors, and executives on a broad range of matters, spanning complex commercial litigation, securities and shareholder litigation, corporate governance, ERISA class actions, compliance review, internal and regulatory investigations across a variety of industries, and products liability and mass torts. Bill has significant experience drafting and responding to dispositive motions, conducting all phases of complex discovery, including fact and expert depositions, and trial.

Before joining Sidley, Bill clerked for the Honorable Kenneth F. Ripple of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and served as a Public Interest Law Initiative Fellow at Legal Aid Chicago. Bill graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. In law school, he served as an executive editor on the Northwestern University Law Review. Bill received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, where he was a four-year starter on the Lions football team.

• Representation of leading company in marine industry through trial in connection with post-transaction dispute in Delaware Superior Court. Partial victory on summary judgment, followed by full victory after three-week bench trial.
• Representation of board special committee in derivative matter pending in Delaware Chancery Court.
• Representation of wholesale distributor in pending securities litigation in the Southern District of New York.
• Representation of officers and companies in internal and regulatory investigations.
• Representation of major audit firm in connection with regulatory compliance and tax diligence during spin-off of advisory services.
• Representation of major accounting firms in third-party subpoena discovery.
• Representation of a professional sports league players association related to medical care grievances.
• Representation of a contract sterilizer of medical devices in toxic tort litigation in the Circuit Court of Cook County. The defense team obtained a full defense victory at trial, leading to a global settlement of cases filed in Cook County.