Bill Southard serves as the firm’s general counsel in the Office of General Counsel and is a member of the Executive Committee. He previously served as the deputy chair of the firm’s litigation area.
Throughout his more than 30-year career, Bill’s practice has spanned the spectrum of complex commercial litigation, representing clients across the United States at the trial and appellate court levels. He has tried cases as diverse as the defense of an international engineering firm responsible for the engineering, design and startup of pulp recycling facilities; the prosecution of claims arising from the refurbishment of a complex petrochemical refinery; and the defense of antitrust claims asserted against an association of pipe foundries. Equally diverse are his clients, ranging from international corporations to prominent individuals.
In recent years, much of Bill’s work has focused on the representation of clients in large process facility disputes, such as the owners, developers and builders of power facilities, infrastructure projects and petrochemical plants. These disputes have centered on subjects such as technology procurement and performance, design deficiencies, numerous issues of contract performance, questions of force majeure relief, and insurance coverage. In a recent project insurance dispute, Bill’s client was successful in negotiating a payment of more than $100 million. Another matter that he recently tried resulted in an award of nearly $30 million, the full amount of the litigated claim. In a construction litigation matter, Bill recently led the firm’s representation of the joint venture of Bechtel Corporation and Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas Inc. in litigation growing out of Boston’s “Big Dig” project. Bill is active in various construction and engineering industry professional groups, and has been outside general counsel to the domestic trade association of cast iron pipe producers for nearly 20 years.
Bill has significant experience in arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings throughout the United States. He has acted as counsel in numerous arbitration trials.
