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Will Stute

Partner

Washington, D.C. Office

Will F. Stute is an experienced trial lawyer and trusted business advisor.

Will is a first chair trial lawyer with a national practice. He leads Orrick’s Sports practice and he represents companies in the Technology, Life Sciences, Financial Services, Defense Contracting, and other industries. Will’s clients include some of the largest and most well-known companies in the world in complex high-value matters. He is often called on by clients to help them tackle their most challenging and complex disputes – often novel, high value matters and waves of litigation that put companies and entire industries in question, often cutting across legal disciplines.

In 2017, Will was voted by clients as a BTI Client Service All-Star. In 2019, he was selected as a member of Law360's Sports Editorial Advisory Board. In 2019 and 2020, Will served as an adjunct professor of law at Harvard Law School, teaching Trial Advocacy. Business leaders also seek out Will’s counsel on a variety of issues. Will has been described as having “the ability to see legal problems in a business context,” for his “exceptional client service,” and for his “ability to effectively bring a creative and aggressive approach” to their problems.

Active in the community and in improving the diversity of our profession, Will is a board member of the Congressional Award Foundation and a founding member and former president of the board of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, among other leadership roles.

    • Lead trial counsel for the NCAA in over 20 concussion / CTE cases across the United States.
    • Lead trial counsel for Global Linguist Solutions LLC, in a civil Qui Tam civil action in Maryland alleging violations of the False Claims Act in connection with intelligence activities in Kuwait during the Iraq War.
    • Lead trial counsel for a leading biopharmaceutical company in Federal Court in Pennsylvania in a Qui Tam civil action alleging violations of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statutes.
    • Lead trial counsel for a global technology company in a consumer antitrust class action in California State Court related to app distribution.
    • Lead trial counsel for a global logistics company as plaintiff in an anti-trust price fixing case, matter settled successfully prior to trial.
    • Member of trial team for Credit Suisse in a RMBS case brought by the FDIC as receiver for a failed bank in Alabama Circuit Court, case successfully settled prior to trial.
    • Represented material institutional investors victimized in several of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history, securing the return of tens of millions of dollars for clients
    • Represented a major food producer in obtaining early dismissal of highly publicized class action claims, with industry-wide implications for food manufacturers, that it had fraudulently mislabeled products
    • Represented the seller of a foreign currency brokerage against claims of fraud by account holders after the purchaser filed for bankruptcy, leading to claims totaling more than $60M, resolved favorably after month long arbitration
    • Represented the founder and significant equity holder of publicly traded company in alleged derivative claims regarding initial capitalization of company in context of board appointed special committee investigation, FINRA inquiry, active grand jury investigation and SEC subpoenas
    • Obtained dismissal of purported class action for international bank in which plaintiffs’ alleged fraud in the securitization of residential real estate loans
    • Obtained a TRO freezing distributions from a money market fund when it “broke the buck,” preventing the redemption of over $40 billion from the fund, preventing a “run on the bank” in a result covered widely by the national media
    • Defended publicly traded company and its officers in an SEC investigation of potential securities fraud and insider trading, resulting in a rare “no further investigation” determination by the SEC after testimony of the executives