Overview
Ed Reddington is Co-Chair of Williams & Connolly LLP’s Federal Programs and Government Contracts practice group. His experience as lead counsel includes a wide range of complex civil and criminal matters in state and federal courts at the trial and appellate levels, as well as significant experience advising companies during the conduct of internal and governmental investigations.
Ed’s practice most recently has focused on leading, managing, and successfully resolving a wide variety of complex civil litigations. Over the years, he has successfully litigated claims alleging, among other things, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, civil fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, antitrust violations, labor law violations, products liability actions, and other tort claims. Drawing upon his prior experience in the Department of Defense, Ed also frequently has represented clients in matters arising under federal law that have a national security, aerospace, defense, or government contracting component, including False Claims Act investigations and litigation, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters, and government contract, procurement integrity, and government ethics-related investigations and litigation.
Ed’s experience also includes defending entities and individuals in significant and complex matters before the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission, representing individuals in Congressional investigations, and representing contractors in debarment proceedings before federal agencies and the World Bank.
Ed was recommended in the 2015 edition of The Legal 500 in the area of government contracts. The publication described him as having “the courage of his convictions” and “consistently provides ‘clear and unequivocal’ advice.”
Ed also has extensive experience overseeing and conducting complex internal investigations for large corporations involving the analysis of criminal and civil laws including, among others, anticorruption laws, procurement integrity and government ethics requirements, qui tam false claims allegations, wire fraud, and anti-money laundering statutes. These clients have included prominent multinational corporations in the information technology, aerospace, defense, construction and engineering, and commodities industries. Ed’s practice has involved significant overseas experience, including investigations conducted in Germany, Switzerland, India, and multiple countries in Asia and the Middle East. Through his international work, Ed has gained an understanding of the complexities of such issues as the cross-border transfer of information under foreign data privacy and state secrets laws. He has worked closely with foreign counsel in the coordination of regulatory activities and litigation in the U.S. with corresponding activities overseas.
Before joining Williams & Connolly, Ed served on active duty in the U.S. Army for over fifteen years, first as a pilot, flying UH-1 utility helicopters and OH-58 scout helicopters, and later as a judge advocate. As a JAG officer, he gained considerable criminal trial experience as both a prosecutor and a defense counsel, handling serious felony-level cases including homicide investigations, attempted murder, aggravated assault, sexual assaults, child pornography and molestation, armed robbery, and drug distributions. He also served as a civil litigation attorney with the Army’s Litigation Division, where he was appointed as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney defending the United States and its employees in wrongful death, negligence, medical malpractice, and Constitutional tort suits in federal court. In these roles, he gained significant litigation experience, first-chairing dozens of bench and jury trials, as well as representing the government and individual clients in numerous administrative hearings.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Ed graduated from West Point in 1991 and received his J.D. in 1998 from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif. In 2004, before leaving active duty, he earned his LL.M. in Military Law with a specialization in Government Contracts from the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, where he was an Honor Graduate. Ed is a retired Lieutenant Colonel, and has taught federal litigation and advocacy as an adjunct professor at the JAG School in Charlottesville, Virginia. He joined Williams & Connolly in 2006.