Mr William Donovan > McDermott Will & Emery LLP > Los Angeles, United States > Lawyer Profile
McDermott Will & Emery LLP Offices
2049 CENTURY PARK EAST
38TH FLOOR
LOS ANGELES, CA 90067-32
CALIFORNIA
United States
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Mr William Donovan
Work Department
Trial
Position
William (Bill) Donovan is co-head of the Firm’s class action practice. He focuses his practice on trial and appellate litigation, with an emphasis on accounting, consumer class actions, professional liability and complex commercial cases. Bill is an accomplished litigator who has handled bet-the-company litigations and has first-chaired multiple trials and arbitrations. He represents Fortune 200 corporations, emerging companies, sharing economy clients, entrepreneurs and technology firms.
Bill has successfully defended accounting firms, financial institutions and insurance companies in multiple cases through trial. He also prosecutes trade secret and unfair competition claims resulting in substantial relief for clients in court and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) actions. Bill has in-depth experience in accounting liability matters and has successfully defended a number of high-profile tax and accounting cases through trial. He played a pivotal role in assisting a major telecommunications company in resolving a high-profile investigation into its accounting practices.
Bill is highly skilled in handling class actions raising common law and statutory claims, including causes of action under Sections 17200 and 17500 of the California Business and Professions Code, Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Unruh Act. He has successfully obtained dismissals on motions to dismiss and demurrers, including cases where the dismissals were affirmed on appeal by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the California Courts of Appeal.
Bill has in-depth experience in complex civil litigation, having successfully represented clients in high-profile matters, including breach of contract, business tort, healthcare, real estate, professional liability and deal disputes. He has argued and won several dozen appeals in federal and state courts, including affirmance of dismissal of multimillion-dollar lawsuits. He has also obtained reversals of lower court decisions refusing to compel arbitration in high-profile civil actions.
Additionally, Bill regularly counsels clients on compliance, enforcement and regulatory issues. He drafts policies and procedures, including website terms of use, arbitration clauses and privacy policies. Bill also defends clients in investigations by federal and state agencies, as well as the National Association of Attorneys General.
Bill maintains an active pro bono practice, having served as lead counsel, and in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union, in a precedent-setting case. Through this effort, the State of California is now required to treat absentee ballots equitably and give voters whose ballots were disqualified for perceived signature mismatch a chance to fix their ballot.
In addition to his work in private practice, Bill was senior counsel at a Fortune 50 telecommunications company. He also worked as a trial attorney with the US Department of Justice, where he conducted numerous appellate and trial court arguments.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
McDermott Will & Emery LLP is noted for its expertise in defending accounting firms and their partners in Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations and securities lawsuits, in addition to maintaining a robust healthcare litigation practice and advising on high-value disputes concerning intellectual property issues. Key clients include oil and gas entities, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, private equity investors and satellite companies, among others. In the firm’s New York office, John Calandra, who has demonstrable experience in cases involving space law and satellites issues, leads the practice alongside Los Angeles’ William Donovan and Jon Dean. Other key contacts in the group include Andrew Kratenstein and Joshua Simon, who operate from the firm’s New York office.
Lawyer Rankings
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Healthcare > Health insurers
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- Insurance > Advice to insurers
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: design
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Tax > Financial products
- Labor and employment > Immigration
- Tax > International tax
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Labor and employment > ERISA litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Insurance > Insurance: non-contentious
- Labor and employment > Labor-management relations
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- Real estate > Real estate finance
- International Trade > Trade remedies and trade policy
- Labor and employment > Workplace and employment counseling
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Labor and employment > Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Government > Government contracts
- Finance > Fintech