John B. Williams

John B. Williams has more than 40 years of trial experience. He has tried cases in 15 states and has appeared in over 30 federal courts and seven courts of appeal. John is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and maintains a diverse litigation practice, handling high-profile commercial, defamation, antitrust, and intellectual property disputes.

• Defamation Litigation — John recently obtained a verdict on behalf of Michael E. Mann, a prominent climatologist, against the publishers of a defamatory article, including a punitive award of a million dollars. He is presently representing legal scholar Alan Dershowitz in his lawsuit against Cable News Network (CNN). Previously he represented G. Gordon Liddy in his 10-year lawsuit against John W. Dean and Ida Maxie Wells arising from Liddy’s endorsement of a revisionist theory of Watergate. He also represented Dr. Steven Levin in the "Dirty Doctor" case, in which Levin was falsely accused by WJLA of sexually abusing his patients. The jury returned the largest defamation verdict ever affirmed on appeal in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

• Commercial Litigation — John has tried a large number of cases alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and other federal statutes and regulations as well as state law claims involving breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of warranty. He has obtained five multi-million-dollar verdicts, including the largest verdict ever returned under the federal Mandatory Petroleum Allocation Regulations. John successfully represented R.J. Reynolds in the three-month Blue Cross/Blue Shield RICO trial before Judge Jack B. Weinstein. More recently, he represented the noted philanthropist, Gerard L. Cafesjian, in his long-running battle to recover title to valuable real estate properties in Washington, D.C.

• Intellectual Property Litigation — John has handled patent, copyright, and trade secret cases for clients including Allegheny-Ludlum, Mobil Oil, Capitol Forum, Energy Conversion Devices, and Trex Corporation. In one case in which Mobil Oil was accused of patent infringement, the jury returned the trifecta: a verdict of noninfringement, invalidity, and unenforceability.

• Antitrust Litigation — John represented Lukens Steel, Bethlehem Steel, and Mobil Oil Corporation in a series of bid rigging cases in the electrical construction industry. He also obtained a multimillion-dollar award against the Professional Golfers Association of America, in which the jury found the PGA to have violated Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and entered a substantial award of punitive damages.

• Advertising Litigation — John has significant experience in all types of advertising litigation, including cases brought by the Federal Trade Commission, cases brought by the state attorneys general, consumer class actions, and private Lanham Act litigation. He successfully defended R.J. Reynolds in the commercial speech case filed by the Federal Trade Commission challenging the cartoon character, Joe Camel. He successfully defended Mobil Oil Corporation when seven state attorneys general, as well as the FTC, challenged Mobil's advertising claims.

John is active in professional and community endeavors. He is the former chair of the District of Columbia Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has taught Trial Practice as an adjunct professor at the Columbus School of Law of the Catholic University of America and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. John was a founder and chairman of the District of Columbia Breakthrough Collaborative, a nonprofit summer and after-school program for disadvantaged middle school students, and formerly served on the board of trustees of St. Andrews Episcopal School, where he was general counsel until 2002. He is presently an assistant coach with the St. Andrews Varsity Baseball team. In addition, John is a founder and director of Lifesong Haiti, which built and operates an orphanage and school in Bercy, Haiti.