Bill Dawson is a partner in the Dallas and Houston offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  He is a seasoned, bet-the-company trial lawyer.

In 2016, Mr. Dawson was identified as a “Lion of the Texas Bar” by The Texas Lawbook for his “extraordinary contribution to the legal profession.”  He was named Best Lawyers‘ “Lawyer of the Year” for Securities Law – Dallas in 2016 and 2014 as well as Bet-the-Company Litigation – Dallas in 2011.  Texas Lawyer also named him Litigator of the Week for a March 2014 trial victory against the Sierra Club on behalf of Energy Future Holdings and Luminant in a Clean Air Act case filed in federal district court for the Western District of Texas.  In July 2015, The Am Law Litigation Daily named him as its Litigator of the Week for winning dismissal of novel False Claims Act claims against Sanofi-Aventis that were brought by generic drug manufacturer Amphastar Pharmaceuticals.

Additional recognition includes consistent inclusion in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and in The Best Lawyers in America® for bet-the-company, commercial litigation, litigation – intellectual property, and securities law.  Mr. Dawson has been named among the “Leading Individuals” in Texas Dispute Resolution by Practical Law Company’s Which lawyer? Yearbook, recognized as a Super Lawyer, and titled a “Local Litigation Star” in Texas for IP, Energy Law, Securities Litigation, and Professional Liability by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation.  He was also named to the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers in commercial litigation.

Mr. Dawson received his J.D. with highest honors from Texas Tech University.  He also holds a B.B.A.  He was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the law school in April 2012 and was the law school’s commencement speaker in December 2013.

Mr. Dawson was admitted to practice in Texas in 1975.  He is also admitted in the United States Supreme Court; Supreme Court of Texas; All Federal District Courts in Texas; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third, Fifth and Ninth Districts; U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan; and U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin.

Mr. Dawson is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers where he has served as chair of the Science and Technology in the Courts Committee, and currently serves on the Texas State Committee.  He is also a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.  He is an active member in the American Law Institute, most recently serving as an Adviser on the ALI Project, the Restatement of the Law Third Torts Liability for Economic Harm.  He is a member of the Fifth Circuit Bar Association.

Representative Matters

• Successfully defended Right of First Refusal claims asserted by WTG Gas Processing against our client, Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. over Permian Basis gas reserves (May 2017).
• Represented Texas Clothing Holding Corp. (owner of Haggar), and resolved favorably, a Delaware Chancery Court derivative lawsuit claiming board actions breached fiduciary duties and violated an agreement among  shareholders and the corporation (April 2017).
• Defended Bechtel Corporation and Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., defeating claims asserted against them by a Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco joint venture, Motiva, growing out of the construction of the largest oil refinery in America.  Following a month-long arbitration in Houston, the claimants were awarded nothing (December 2016).
• Represented Delta Air Lines in its action seeking to enjoin the City of Dallas and Southwest Airlines from evicting it from flying out of Love Field in Dallas.  Obtained a Preliminary Injunction prohibiting Delta’s eviction in Northern District of Texas (September 2015; affirmed, US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – 2017).
• Represented Dole Food Company and two of its directors in consolidated litigation actions related to a going private action in Chancery Court, Wilmington, Delaware (February 2015).
• Settled on eve of Arbitration breach of warranty claims asserted against seller of mid-stream operating plants and related pipelines in West Virginia (December 2014).
• Obtained a $6.4 million attorney fee award for the cost of a successful defense of a Clean Air Act case in Waco, Texas Federal Court (September 2014).
• Defended Sanofi-Aventis in Original Source False Claims Act claim in Central District of California (Los Angeles) (July 2014; affirmed US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit – 2017).
• Defeated attempted injunction against Leap related to its acquisition by AT&T in temporary injunction trial in Lubbock, Texas and Denver-based arbitration proceeding (March 2014).
• Won take nothing judgment in Sierra Club Clean Air Act case against owner and operator of a coal-fired electricity generating plant in Western District of Texas (Waco) (February 2014).
• Won arbitration award for Life Technologies, Inc. subsidiary against Promega in Madison, Wisconsin (December 2013).
• Won take nothing summary judgment of non-infringement for a U.S. mobile phone carrier in Eastern District of Texas (Marshall) (March 2013).
• Won take nothing defense jury verdict of non-infringement and invalidity for a U.S. mobile phone carrier in Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) (February 2013).
• Won title dispute over Marcellus Shale Gas acreage in West Virginia (October 2012).
• Defeated permanent injunction action by King Ranch against D.R. Horton asserting trademark infringement (relating to sale of “King Ranch Homes”) in Southern District of Texas (July 2012).
• Obtained permanent injunction against Cash Store Financial Services for Cottonwood Financial in trademark action in Northern District of Texas (March 2012).
• Defended Danisco in patent infringement suit in the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison); judgment for defense (January 2012; affirmed, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit – 2013).
• Successfully defended Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in the Northern District of Texas (Dallas) obtaining dismissal of whistle blower claims related to actions of the Commissioners Court (September 2011).
• Successfully prosecuted for Northeastern University a patent infringement suit against Google in Eastern District of Texas (Marshall); settled after jury selection (April 2011).
• Successfully defended California biotechnology firm in licensing dispute tried to a jury in Eastern District of Michigan (May 2009).*
• Successfully defended patent infringement claims against Monitronics, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas (Marshall); jury trial and JMOL (April 2009).*
• Major victories for Big-4 accounting firms, including victory in an auditing malpractice case in Washington, D.C. (October 2008).*

* Prior to joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP