WILLIAM SULLIVAN

William Sullivan is a litigation partner who concentrates in antitrust, corporate internal investigations, trial practice, white-collar criminal defense, as well as complex civil and securities litigation.

Mr. Sullivan has handled a variety of civil litigation matters, including antitrust, securities regulation, environmental torts, intellectual property, broker-dealer regulation, product liability defense, arbitration, insurance defense, and a wide range of commercial contract disputes. In addition, he has advised on government contracts, federal tort claims, fraud, civil RICO, claims of privilege, false claims, and whistleblower litigation.

He also has substantial experience representing clients in government and corporate investigations; SEC enforcement actions; grand jury, congressional, and independent counsel inquiries; in parallel proceedings and in courtroom trials; and in fraud, public corruption, and money laundering cases.  His internal investigations work has involved the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, U.S.A. Patriot Act compliance strategy, accounting improprieties and misleading financial disclosures, arms export control, and both civil and criminal antitrust issues.

Mr. Sullivan’s recent clients include officers of an international parcel tanker shipping enterprise in a criminal antitrust investigation involving of allegations of price fixing, customer allocation, and continued criminal conduct following disclosure under the Department of Justice's amnesty program; an international telecommunications company in a U.S. criminal antitrust investigation; a former vice chairman of Enron Corporation in parallel proceedings; a bank vice president in connection with the Allied Irish/Allfirst Financial foreign exchange trading scandal; the Special Committee on Accounting Matters of the Board of Directors of Global Crossing, Ltd. for the purpose of an internal investigation; several officers of Freddie Mac concerning allegations of accounting irregularities; a multinational pharmaceutical company in the successful resolution of alleged violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations; a prominent private equity firm concerning an SEC/DOJ parallel probe; the CEO of the Middle East’s largest Internet service provider involving a criminal investigation; a pump manufacturing company in obtaining a prosecutive declination in an arms export control case; and several officers and directors of Riggs Bank regarding allegations of BSA violations and money laundering.

Mr. Sullivan previously served for over ten years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. During his service, he tried high-profile cases involving first-degree murder, perjury, fraud, obstruction of justice, money laundering, conspiracy, narcotics, and criminal RICO charges. Mr. Sullivan was lead prosecutor in the first federal death penalty case to be tried in almost 50 years in the District of Columbia. He has won over 70 federal criminal jury cases, and has argued and prevailed in over 20 appeals in both New York and the District of Columbia.

Before becoming a federal prosecutor, Mr. Sullivan engaged in private practice as a litigator in New York City, and served in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Honors and Awards

Mr. Sullivan was recently named a Washington, D.C. "Superlawyer" for 2007 and is profiled in Marquis' Who's Who in American Law. He has received numerous Department of Justice awards and commendations, as well as honors from local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Activities

Mr. Sullivan is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, American Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar, the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, and Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court.

He is regularly featured as a legal commentator on national television and has appeared on Fox, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and Court TV.  He also has been the subject of articles in The Legal Times and Washington Lawyer, including, most recently, an article in The Legal Times on his representation of former Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino.

Education

Mr. Sullivan received a B.A. in English, magna cum laude, in 1980 and an M.A. in English from Tufts University in 1981.  He received a J.D. from Cornell University in 1985.

Speeches and Publications

Mr. Sullivan spoke on the government's insistence on the waiver of attorney-client privilege for corporations under investigation in September at the American Bar Association's Fall 2006 National Legal Malpractice Conference in Chicago.  He testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation regarding a cruise line rape case in September 2007. He also testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security hearing on "White Collar Enforcement (PART ONE): Attorney-Client Privilege and Corporate Waivers" in March 2006, and on "The McNulty Memorandum's Effect on the Right to Counsel in Corporate Investigations" in March 2007.  He also was quoted in the June/July 2007 issue of Directorship regarding attorney-client privilege.  He has lectured at Fordham Law School, the Department of Justice’s Attorney General Advocacy Institute, and at the FBI Academy, Quantico, Virginia. Mr. Sullivan also is a faculty member at the University of Virginia's Trial Advocacy Institute.

Mr. Sullivan is also a frequent national television commentator on trial advocacy, jury selection, witness preparation, and complex criminal investigations.  He has addressed the World Trade Organization on Sarbanes-Oxley issues, the Center for American and International Law regarding money laundering, and has presented numerous seminars on behalf of the ABA, the Corporate Counsel College, and the American Conference Institute.

Mr. Sullivan's publications include "Striking Down the Thompson Memo: New York Court Properly Finds Problems with Government Tactics," Legal Times, August 2006 (with Kevin King). He was interviewed by Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Magazine in "Winston & Strawn Speaks Out in Defense of the Attorney-Client Privilege and Work Product Doctrine" in July 2006. He also is the author of "Know Whether the Benefits of Voluntary Disclosure Outweigh the Risks," which was published in the New York Law Journal in July 2003.