Williams & Connolly LLP is the institutional legacy of Edward Bennett Williams, the greatest trial lawyer of the last fifty years. Throughout Williams' career, the famous and the infamous came to him when the stakes were highest. After his death, corporations and individuals still come to Williams & Connolly LLP with their most important and intractable legal problems.

According to The American Lawyer, the firm often represents "clients in mortal danger." As it noted, quoting one Fortune 500 company's general counsel, Williams & Connolly LLP specializes in "the 'one-off case' -- the particularly difficult problem that isn't easily categorized" and involves "painfully high stakes."  The firm also, of course, represents corporations and individuals alike in all types of cases.  As Chambers describes it, the firm brings to bear "a strong trial capacity and a fearsome track record." 

Williams & Connolly LLP is an unusual law firm. Operating out of a single office in Washington, D.C., its over 250 partners and associates take on "bet-the-company" civil suits and highly visible criminal cases throughout the country and around the world. They have brought their skills of advocacy into courtrooms in virtually every jurisdiction, to the Supreme Court of the United States, into the offices of the Executive Branch, and onto the Senate floor.

The firm successfully defended President William Jefferson Clinton in the first impeachment trial of a sitting president in over 125 years. The firm represented Vice President Cheney in the Valerie Plame investigation, and has represented other Bush and Clinton administration officials. The firm also represents many corporate executives and lawyers caught up in the wave of lawsuits involving Enron, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and major accounting firms with regard to tax shelter advice.

The firm successfully represented former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso in his fight with the New York Attorney General, and represented Larry Brown in his employment dispute with the New York Knicks. The firm successfully argued a patent case in the Supreme Court in late 2006. Williams & Connolly LLP also serves as national coordinating and trial counsel for Merck in Vioxx-related lawsuits, Wyeth in trials over its hormone replacement therapy drug Prempro, and Bayer in claims regarding its cholesterol drug Baycol. In addition, the firm represents so many prominent law firms that The Washington Post recognized it as the "firm that lawyers and law firms turn to when they're in trouble."

Williams & Connolly LLP has also been recognized for its commitment to pro bono work. Williams & Connolly lawyers routinely provide free legal representation to the indigent at clinics, in trial and on appeal, in partnership with the Public Defender's Offices of the District of Columbia and Maryland and the District of Columbia Bar, among others. The firm's lawyers also represent military veterans before the Court of Appeals of Veterans Claims, and handle asylum cases in partnership with the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, which awarded the firm its Outstanding Achievement Award.

In addition, the firm has a renowned practice in representing authors, media correspondents and sports figures. Partner Robert Barnett negotiated record-setting book deals for President Clinton, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Alan Greenspan, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and has represented President Barack Obama,  Senator Ted Kennedy, Karl Rove, Laura Bush, and Jenna Bush, among others. He also represents television correspondents Brian Williams, Lesley Stahl, Christiane Amanpour, Brit Hume, and many others. The firm's professional athlete clients include Shane Battier, Josh Childress, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill and Christian Laettner of the National Basketball Association; Alana Beard, Chamique Holdsclaw and Nikki McCray of the Women's National Basketball Association; Rickie Weeks of the Milwaukee Brewers; Jemile Weeks of the Oakland A's; and professional golfer Tim Clark.

The firm's corporate clients include a virtual "Who's Who" of American corporations: Wyeth, UBS, Pfizer, General Electric, Office Depot, Merck, Sony, the Washington Post, Medco, Bechtel, Mars, McDonald's, JM Family Enterprises, AutoNation, Inc., Marriott International, Inc., Time Warner, Inc. and AES Corp., to name a few.

The firm's reputation for excellence, commitment to clients and to its own Williams & Connolly LLP "family" is confirmed by its own lawyers. The firm ranked first in the nation in associate satisfaction in The Vault Guide, and fourth nationwide by women lawyers as a "great firm for women." Williams & Connolly LLP alumni hold top legal, academic and corporate jobs as federal judges, White House Counsel, Solicitor General, CEO of Pfizer, general counsels of Sony, Bechtel, Danaher Corp., Georgetown University, and KPMG, CEO of the Boston Red Sox, and Executive Vice President of Marriott, among others.

Evan Thomas's best-selling biography of Edward Bennett Williams was titled The Man to See. Today, the firm he founded is regarded by potential clients and young lawyers alike as "the firm to see."