Joe Terry is Co-Chair of Williams & Connolly’s First Amendment practice group. He focuses his practice on complex, high-stakes litigation. Joe was selected for inclusion in the 2013 through 2020 editions of Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers and was recognized as a “Future Star” by Benchmark Litigation for both 2010 and 2011.
During his twenty-one year career at Williams & Connolly, Joe has successfully represented media companies, financial services companies, public officials, and accounting and law firms in a wide variety of civil and criminal litigation, including trials and arbitrations.
Joe has represented clients in federal and state trial courts throughout the country and before the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, 4th Circuit, 5th Circuit, 6th Circuit, 9th Circuit, the District of Columbia Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Joe is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Urban Debate League, a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting interscholastic debate in Washington, D.C.-area public schools.
Representative Experience
Though all cases vary and none is predictive, Joe’s experience includes:
- The defense of Fox News in a defamation action brought by a former contributor; in multiple defamation suits brought by individuals who had entered into workplace-related settlements with a commentator and who objected to public comments made about those settlements; and in a suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress brought by the parents of Seth Rich
- The trial defense, through settlement, of ABC News against libel and product disparagement claims by the producers of “lean finely textured beef.”
- The defense of the Atlantic Monthly in an ongoing defamation suit.
- Representations of media companies in non-public retraction demand matters or threatened litigation regarding coverage.
- Representation of a Fortune 500 media corporation that was the target of a highly-publicized FCPA investigation by the Department of Justice and SEC. The investigation was closed without settlement, charges, or an enforcement action.
- Obtaining a complete defense victory for a Big Four accounting firm in a multi-hundred-million-dollar accounting malpractice arbitration.
- Obtaining summary judgment for a major accounting firm accused of professional malpractice.
- Obtaining a dismissal on behalf of a multinational media company in the only civil litigation brought in the United States regarding the phone hacking controversy involving UK tabloids.
- Criminal defense of Senator Ted Stevens on charges that he made false statements on federal disclosure forms. Senator Stevens was ultimately exonerated on all counts following the revelation that the prosecution withheld key evidence that undermined its principal theory of the case. The American Lawyer described Williams & Connolly’s work on the case as “one of the best criminal defense performances in memory, resulting in a heightened scrutiny of prosecutors that will affect the Justice Department for years to come.”
- Defense of former New York Stock Exchange Chairman and CEO Richard A. Grasso in the highly publicized civil action brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer challenging the reasonableness of Mr. Grasso’s compensation. After a four-year battle that reached New York’s highest court, all counts against Mr. Grasso were dismissed.
- Lead counsel in the representation of a multi-billion-dollar asset manager in an arbitration concerning a non-compete dispute with a former partner.
- Lead counsel in the defense of a chain of for-profit trade schools accused of fraud and deceptive trade practices.
- Lead trial counsel in the pro bono defense of an individual charged with first degree attempted murder. The jury acquitted the defendant of first degree attempted murder and hung on all remaining charges but theft of over $500.