Overview
Craig Singer is a trial and appellate litigator with a national reputation for representing law firms, professionals, and other companies and individuals in high-stakes matters.
For more than 25 years, Craig has represented numerous lawyers and law firms, including some of the nation’s largest firms, in federal and state courts, government investigations, and arbitration proceedings in many jurisdictions around the country. In recent years Craig was lead trial counsel in two successful jury trials in defense of large law firms. Craig is co-chair of Williams & Connolly’s Law Firm Defense Practice Group. Chambers USA recognized Craig among the top lawyers nationwide in Law Firm Defense, noting he “is considered a leading choice by top law firms and lawyers facing significant malpractice claims, as well as defending regulatory investigations and enforcement.”
Craig is a seasoned trial lawyer in matters outside the legal malpractice arena as well. His recent jury trial defense of a bank in a large consumer class action earned a Trailblazer award from The National Law Journal in September 2023. In recent years he has tried multiple cases in the banking and healthcare arenas, including cases brought under the False Claims Act and state consumer protection statutes, and under breach-of-contract and other common law theories, in multiple jurisdictions around the country.
Craig has particular experience defending professionals and firms in matters arising from Ponzi schemes and other frauds. He is the author of a book on that subject, Professionals, Firms, and Fraud: Defending Professionals Against Liability for Client Fraud, which was published by the ABA.
Craig is a member of the D.C. Bar Legal Ethics Committee, which issues formal opinions on questions arising under the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct. Effective July 1, 2026, the D.C. Bar Board of Governors appointed Craig to serve as Vice Chair of the Committee. Craig is also a member of the TriBar Opinion Committee, which prepares influential reports on legal opinion practice, and a member of the board of the Working Group on Legal Opinions, which provides a national forum for the discussion of important issues relating to closing opinions.
Craig has played a significant role in developing and litigating defenses to claims commonly brought against lawyers and law firms, including defenses based on in pari delicto, elements of aiding and abetting claims, attorney-client duties, proximate causation and damages.
Outside of his representation of law firms and lawyers, Craig has represented large companies in the health care, banking and defense contracting industries in defending against high stakes litigation and investigations, including under the federal False Claims Act and state law consumer protection and false-claims statutes.
In his criminal defense practice, Craig has also represented individuals and entities in criminal cases or investigations relating to various alleged offenses including mail and wire fraud, RICO, antitrust, environmental crimes and securities fraud.
Craig has extensive experience in federal criminal procedure, and is co-author of a treatise, Federal Criminal Discovery, published by the ABA. As described by the ABA, Federal Criminal Discovery “serves as an invaluable resource for judges, academics, prosecutors, and defense lawyers by providing an exhaustive discussion on the statutory and constitutional bases for discovery, and by covering the existing law fairly while examining both sides of the issues.”
In his appellate practice, Craig has handled appeals for clients in significant civil and criminal matters in state and federal courts nationwide. He is a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk and a member of the Supreme Court Bar and the bars of every Federal Circuit.
Born in Washington, D.C., Craig grew up in suburban Philadelphia. He earned his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1990, taking off one semester to teach pre-school in Stamford, Connecticut. Craig earned his J.D., with Highest Honors, from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was Articles Editor of The University of Chicago Law Review. After law school, Craig clerked for Chief Judge Abner J. Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. He joined Williams & Connolly in 1996.