William H. Forman
Partner
Bill is a first-chair trial lawyer in both federal and state courts, proficient in areas as diverse as securities fraud, consumer class actions, and patent litigation. He prides himself on efficiently dispatching matters through aggressive and innovative motion practice. One client said that Bill “is the most exceptional and wickedly smart attorney that I have worked with or against in my 45 years of practice,” and opposing counsel has called him “a bulldog” in the press.
Key Matters
Some of the experience represented below may have been handled at a previous firm.
- Won a complete defense verdict at trial against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its action against a CEO charged with insider trading and fraudulently reporting revenues.
- Won a unanimous federal jury verdict for client facing US$30M+ claim in licensing dispute after jury found no damages; the judge trying the case called Bill’s examination of plaintiff’s damages expert “one of the two or three best cross-examinations I’ve ever seen.”
- Defeated the claims of lead plaintiffs in a putative class action by proving, at a bench trial on mental capacity, plaintiffs with drug addiction had sufficient capacity to enter into arbitration provisions contained in agreements with drug rehabilitation centers.
- Won enforcement of arbitration agreements even though plaintiffs’ claims were for torts of alleged stalking and harassment that arose almost 20 years after execution of the agreements.
- Served as trial counsel for a California software company in a patent infringement and trade secrets case in federal court in Texas. Case settled on eve of trial on favorable terms after winning motions he wrote and argued on choice of law and limiting expert testimony on damages.
- Established new precedent by winning motion for attorneys’ fees under the Copyright Act for prevailing in case, even though dismissal was for lack of jurisdiction and not on the merits.
- Successfully argued before Multidistrict Litigation Panel against consolidation of dozens of cases brought against Bill’s client.
- Represented major entertainment company in matter with hundreds of millions of dollars of claimed damages, which settled on favorable terms after Bill’s multi-day examination of plaintiffs’ damages expert.
- Obtained a favorable settlement of a wage and hour class action by demonstrating that putative class members were independent contractors.
- Obtained a US$20M judgment in a federal bench trial on behalf of a major entertainment studio for breach of a licensing agreement.
- Successfully arguing a motion to dismiss on behalf of a mortgage lender and its directors and officers in several nationwide class actions arising from the mortgage crisis (In re Thornburg Mortgage Inc. Securities Litigation, No. 07-cv-00815, 2010 BL 18648 (D.N.M. Jan. 27, 2010).
- Won a reversal for client of trial court’s denial of attorney’s fee motion on novel issue of law (One Star, Inc. v. Staar Surgical Co., 179 App. 4th 1082 (2009)).