Williams & Connolly partner John Villa will participate in PLI’s Annual Securities Law Conference on November 5-8, 2025, in New York City and on a national video link.  On Tuesday, November 6, John will speak on the panel “Ethical Issues for Public Company Counseling,” which will address issues of professional responsibility, ethics and attorney-client privilege that arise in shareholder disputes and corporate power struggles as well as conflicts of interest that arise in the context of bankruptcy proceedings.  The ethics panels of PLI conferences are available on the PLI website and are regularly viewed by large numbers of practitioners annually.

John is Co-Chair of the firm’s Financial Services and Banking practice group.  He focuses on the defense of law firms in malpractice suits, and corporate, securities and financial services-related litigation. John served on the firm’s Executive Committee from 2002 through 2017.  In 2024 and 2025, Chambers USA named John a “Star Individual,” the publication’s highest honor, in its first two years of USA rankings in the Law Firm Defense category, citing client reports that “John is the ultimate lawyers’ lawyer.”  He has authored three treatises on the duties of corporate lawyers and corporate directors and officers, and financial crimes. He has also authored a casebook on professional responsibility for corporate lawyers and taught law school courses on that subject at Georgetown, Columbia and elsewhere. He has handled cases in more than 30 states and appeared before every federal court of appeals.

Click here to learn more about the conference