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Overview
BILL PARTNERS WITH CLIENTS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FROM THE BOARD ROOM TO THE COURT ROOM.
A strong believer that close relationships drive successful outcomes, Bill cultivates connections within and outside the legal field to benefit his clients and community. Combining these relationships with legal skill, Bill is an effective advocate in complex business matters, employment disputes and claims, and personal injury defense for clients in industries at the center of the modern economy including government, healthcare, and financial services.
Bill handles matters through all aspects of litigation, including pre-suit investigation and negotiation, administrative proceedings, arbitration, and trial and appeal in state and federal court. His experience includes litigation in probate and bankruptcy courts. Bill also has been entrusted with internal investigations and policy and procedure reviews in employment and other contexts.
Education & Admissions
Drake University Law School, With Highest Honors; Order of the Coif; Iowa State Bar Association Graduating Senior Award; H.G. Cartwright Law Review Award
Augustana College, cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
Admissions
- Iowa
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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
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U.S. District Courts and Bankruptcy Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa
Clerkships
- Iowa Supreme Court, Justice Mark S. Cady
Experience
Representative Litigation
Bill is a trial lawyer and has litigated several matters through trial and appeal. Other successes have resulted in client victories without trial. Examples of his work include:
- Defense of municipal client, including through certified questions, in litigation of water service territory dispute (S.D. Iowa and Iowa Supreme Court)
- Trial and appeal in multiple lawsuits against an independent living facility client alleging breach of fiduciary duty and other theories (Polk County and Iowa Supreme Court)
- Defense of municipal client through trial in breach of contract action related to economic development agreement (Polk County)
- Defense from administrative level through trial in arbitration and state and federal courts of numerous employment law matters
- Trial and appeal of breach of contract claims surrounding economic development agreement between a municipal client and corporation alleging the city failed to pay agreed-upon incentives (N.D. Iowa and Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals)
- Defense of municipal client through trial and appeal against claim that special assessments for local improvements violated Iowa law (Dubuque County and Iowa Court of Appeals)
- Consultation, trial support, and appeal in action seeking to challenges to client’s economic development initiatives involving tax increment financing and zoning issues (Polk County and Iowa Supreme Court)
- Represented manufacturing client in complex products liability action in Iowa state court and, with a Dorsey colleague, tried the case to a jury over five weeks resulting in an eight-figure verdict in favor of client (Mahaska County)
- Multiple cases for hospital client defending medical malpractice claims in Iowa state court (Linn County)
- Lead counsel in securing a defense verdict after trial in Iowa state court of plaintiffs’ failure to warn claim related to allegedly-defective vehicle loading ramp (Polk County)
News & Resources
Articles
January 18, 2024
January 17, 2024
Iowa Passes New Law Related to COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates by Employers and Unemployment Insurance
November 1, 2021
June 1, 2021
August 11, 2020
August 28, 2017
July 23, 2015
"An Excellent Volume for Practitioners in Many Fields (A Review of Advance Health Care Directives: A Handbook for Professionals)," The Iowa Lawyer
December 2003
Note, "Chipping Away at the Dam: Anastasoff v. United States and the Future of Unpublished Opinions in the United States Courts of Appeals and Beyond," 50 Drake L. Rev. 181
2001
News & Press Mentions
August 15, 2024
October 24, 2023
August 17, 2023
October 1, 2021
June 24, 2021
October 14, 2020
September 30, 2019
April 25, 2019
August 15, 2018
October 9, 2017
August 15, 2017
February 3, 2017
December 23, 2016
Events & Speaking Engagements
Select Presentations
Bill has presented on topics including appellate law and practice, professional responsibility, and elder law for organizations including the Association of Corporate Counsel - Iowa Chapter, Iowa Hospital Association, Iowa Judicial Institute, Iowa Defense Counsel Association and Polk County and Iowa State Bar Associations.
Industries & Practices
Banking & Financial Institutions
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceDevelopment & Infrastructure
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceFood, Beverage & Agribusiness
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceHealthcare & Life Sciences
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practiceTrusts & Estates Litigation
Explore This Practice View client achievements related to this practice View resources related to this practice- Appellate
- Banking & Financial Institutions
- Class Action Litigation
- Commercial Litigation
- Development & Infrastructure
- Food, Beverage & Agribusiness
- Healthcare & Life Sciences
- Labor & Employment
- Pro Bono
- Products Liability
- Trusts & Estates Litigation
Professional & Civic
Professional Achievements
- Member, Polk County Bar Association
- Recipient, Award of Merit
- Past President
- Chair, Judicial Retention Committee
- Member, Bench & Bar Committee
- Past Member, Board of Governors
- Past Member, Ethics Committee
- Past Member, Public Relations Committee
- Member, Iowa State Bar Association
- Member and Chair, Litigation Section Council
- Member, Judicial Administration Committee
- Member, Appellate Practice Committee
- Member, Labor and Employment Law Section
- Member, Health Law Section and past member of Section Council
- Past Member, Board of Governors
- Past Member, Independence of the Judiciary/Fair Courts Committee
- Past Member and Chair, Young Lawyers Division Services to the Elderly Committee
- Life Fellow, Iowa State Bar Foundation
- Member, Iowa Municipal Attorneys Association
- Member, Iowa Society of Healthcare Attorneys
- Past Member, Iowa Supreme Court Jumpstart Jury Trials Task Force
- Past Member and Co-Chair, Iowa Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure
- Past Member, Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Continuing Legal Education
- Past Member, PCBA Volunteer Lawyers Project Board of Directors
- Past Member, American Judicature Society, National Advisory Council
- Past Member, American Bar Association
- Past Member, Iowa Defense Counsel Association
- Past Member, Defense Research Institute
- Past Member, C. Edwin Moore Inn of Court
Community Involvement
- Drake Law School, Board of Counselors
- President
- Augustana College, President's Advisory Council
- Des Moines Business Record's Forty Under 40, 2014
- Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, 2008
- Past Member, Holy Trinity Church and School, Facilities Committee
- Past Member, Amanda the Panda Board of Directors
- Past President, Beaverdale Neighborhood Association
Accolades
- Recipient of Polk County Bar Association Award of Merit in recognition of “outstanding service and dedication to the association and its members,” 2024
- Ranked by Chambers USA as one of “America’s Leading Business Lawyers” (Litigation: General Commercial), 2018-2024
- Listed in Best Lawyers in America© for Commercial Litigation (2016-2025) and Litigation — Labor & Employment (2018-2025)
- Listed in Great Plains Super Lawyers, 2021-2023
- Dorsey & Whitney – Scales of Justice Team Award (Dr. Conaway Disability Rights Team), 2021
- Ranked by Chambers USA as "Up and Coming" (Litigation: General Commercial), 2015-2017
- Listed in Best Lawyers in America Employment Law Issue, 2021
- Rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell®
- Recognized as a "Labor & Employment Star – Iowa" by Benchmark Litigation, 2021-2022
- Recognized as one of Benchmark Litigation's Under 40 Hot List, 2016-2018
- Recognized as a "Rising Star" by Great Plains Super Lawyers, 2013-2017
- Recognized as a "Future Star" by Benchmark Litigation, 2015-2016, 2021-2022, and 2024
- Contributed more than 50 Challenge pro bono hours, 2020, 2022
- Contributed more than 100 Challenge pro bono hours, 2021
