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William E. White

Partner

Email

william.white@aoshearman.com

Phone

+1 202 683 3876

Offices

Washington DC

V-CARD
Bill is Co-US General Counsel. He advises the firm on legal issues including litigation, legal ethics, regulatory, and risk issues.

Bill is experienced in representing financial services firms, public companies, and their officers, directors, and employees in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement investigations, FINRA investigations, as well as related criminal investigations, internal investigations, and securities litigation. Over the years, Bill has led dozens of high profile securities matters including those involving the FCPA, insider trading, broker-dealer and investment adviser rules and regulations, accounting issues, public company disclosure requirements, and municipal securities regulation. 

Bill served for eight years on the staff of the Enforcement Division of the SEC serving as a staff attorney, branch chief and senior trial counsel. While at the SEC, Bill led investigations and litigation involving accounting and financial fraud, insider trading, municipal securities, broker-dealer and investment adviser violations and market manipulation. 

Expertise

Industries

Experience

Pro bono

  • Bill has been active in pro bono matters involving issues such as civil rights, military veterans’ claims and various family court matters. Most notably, he led a team of lawyers who, along with co-counsel and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, secured the release and full pardons for 38 African-American defendants from Tulia, Texas who had been convicted and sentenced based solely on the testimony of an unreliable, avowedly racist undercover agent. For his work in the case, Bill was a finalist (along with co-counsel) for the 2004 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award presented by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. The Tulia case was the subject of a prize-winning book, "Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town" by Nate Blakeslee and a PBS documentary, "Tulia, Texas."
  • Bill is also a member of the advisory board for Legal Counsel for the Elderly.

Published Work

  • "Pay-To-Play Lessons From This Week's SEC Settlements," Law360 (Feb. 17, 2017), with Charles Borden, Chris Salter, Samuel Brown and Claire Rajan
  • "Securities and Exchange Commission Announces Protection Rule Initiative," Allen & Overy Publication (June 28, 2016), with Barbara Stettner, Chris Salter, Kimberly Chehardy and Matthew Daigler
  • “$12M SEC Penalty Demonstrates Focus On Pay-To-Play,” Law360 (Jan. 15, 2016), with Charles Borden and Claire Rajan
  • "Municipal Underwriters On SEC’s Fraud Radar," Law360 (Sept. 2013)
  • "US insider trading enforcement goes global," Journal of Investment Compliance, Vol. 14 Iss: 3 (2013)?
  • "New Directions For SEC’s Insider Trading Program," Law360 (Apr. 2013)
  • "The Latest in Supervisory Liability," Law360 (Sept. 2012)
  • "Once a Friend, Always a Friend? Joint Defense Agreements and Their Impact On Cross-Examination and Impeachment of Allies Who Turn Government Witness," The Criminal Law Reporter Co-Author (June 2012)
  • "Clarity For Supervisory Liability?," Law360 (Mar. 2012)?
  • "Legal, Compliance Employees on The Hook After Urban," Law360 (Oct. 2010)
  • "Disqualifying Counsel: A New SEC Enforcement Tactic?" Law360 (Aug. 2010)
  • "Corporate Internal Investigations," The Corporate Counselor (Nov. 2009)

Qualifications

Admissions

Registered Foreign Lawyer, England and Wales, 2024

Admitted: Bar of the District of Columbia, 2000

Admitted: Bar of the State of California, 1991

Admitted: United States District Courts

  • Central District of California, 1991
  • Southern District of California, 1998

Admitted: United States Supreme Court, 2001 

Academic

J.D., cum laude, Pepperdine University School of Law, 1991

B.A., Boston College, 1988

Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.