People

William Jeffress Baker Botts Washington
William H. Jeffress, Jr.
Senior Counsel

Overview

In his 45 years as a trial lawyer, Bill Jeffress has tried 36 complex criminal and civil cases to juries in eleven states, plus dozens of nonjury trials before judges and administrative tribunals. Mr. Jeffress' cases have involved a wide range of substantive areas, including fraud, government procurement, antitrust, securities, regulation of financial institutions, insurance, news gathering, tax, healthcare, international transactions, civil rights and public corruption.

A large part of Mr. Jeffress' practice centers on the representation of corporations and individuals under investigation for violation of criminal laws, and defending them where indictments are returned. He has received acquittals for public officials accused of extortion, perjury, money laundering and vote-buying; for lawyers charged with bank fraud, insurance fraud and money laundering; and for businessmen accused of antitrust offenses, bribery, tax fraud, mail fraud, misapplication of funds and RICO violations.

Mr. Jeffress defended ABC News in a landmark case alleging fraud and trespass during news gathering, prosecuted the Mexican national oil company for civil contempt and defended the first case against a multinational company to be tried under the Alien Tort Statute. He also received a Supreme Court ruling for former President Richard Nixon involving public access to the Watergate tapes and also a landmark ruling involving wheelchair accessibility at sports arenas under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

After graduation from Yale Law School, Mr. Jeffress served as a law clerk to Judge Gerhard A. Gesell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and as a law clerk to Justice Potter Stewart of the United States Supreme Court. He has served as Chair of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Standards Committee and was a member of the ABA's Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility from 1996 to 2002. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has testified as an expert witness on legal ethics and trial practice.

Admission & Affiliations

  • District of Columbia Bar

    U.S. Courts of Appeals for Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth and District of Columbia Circuits

    U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Texas, the Eastern District of Michigan and the District of Columbia

    United States Supreme Court

    American Bar Association, Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, 1996 - 2002; Committee on Standards of Criminal Justice, Chair, 1993 - 1996

    American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow

  • LL.B., Yale Law School 1970

    Editor in Chief, Yale Law Journal

  • B.A., economics, Washington and Lee University 1967
    summa cum laude

Awards and Community

Rated by Who’s Who Legal as one of the eight “most highly regarded individuals” in the United States for business crime defense, 2014

Recognized as the “Washington, D.C. Best Lawyers Bet-the-Company Litigator of the Year,” 2009

Listed in Chambers USA, 2003-2023 and Chambers Global, 2004-2005, 2010-2024

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, 1993-2017

Recognized as one of the “Top Ten Washington D.C. Super Lawyers,” 2007

Recognized as a Washington D.C. Super Lawyer, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 & 2018