William B. Dawson is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He leads trial teams in a wide array of commercial matters, including patent infringement and technology licensing disputes, oil and gas lawsuits, white-collar criminal matters, and securities litigation. He is past-chair of the Science and Technology in the Courts Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Mr. Dawson is consistently recognized as a leader in litigation. He was named Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for Securities/Capital Markets Law – Dallas in 2014 and Bet-the-Company Litigation – Dallas in 2011. He has been consistently included in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and in The Best Lawyers in America® for bet-the-company, commercial litigation, and litigation – intellectual property. He has been named a “Leading Individuals” in Texas Dispute Resolution by Practical Law Company’s Which lawyer? Yearbook, recognized as a Super Lawyer, and named a “Local Litigation Star” in Texas for IP, Energy Law, Securities Litigation, and Professional Liability by Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation. He was also named to the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers in commercial litigation.

Mr. Dawson received his J.D. with highest honors from Texas Tech University. He also holds a B.B.A. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the law school in April 2012 and was the law school’s commencement speaker in December 2013.

Mr. Dawson was admitted to practice in Texas in 1975. He is also admitted in the United States Supreme Court; Supreme Court of Texas; All Federal District Courts in Texas; The Court of Appeals for the Third and Fifth Districts of Texas; U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan; and U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin.

Mr. Dawson is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is an active member in the American Law Institute, currently serving as an Adviser on the current ALI project, the Restatement of the Law Third Torts: Liability for Economic Harm. He is a member of the Fifth Circuit Bar Association and is a Member of the Board of Trustees for The Center for American and International Law.

Representative Matters

Defended Sanofi-Aventis in Original Source False Claims Act claim in Central District of California (Los Angeles) (July 2014); decision pending.
Defeated attempted injunction against Leap related to its acquisition by AT&T in temporary injunction trial in Lubbock, Texas and Denver-based arbitration proceeding (March 2014).
Won take nothing judgment in Sierra Club Clean Air Act case against owner and operator of a coal-fired electricity generating plant in Western District of Texas (Waco) (February 2014).
Won arbitration award for Life Technologies, Inc. subsidiary against Promega in Madison, Wisconsin (December 2013).
Won take nothing summary judgment of non-infringement for T-Mobile in Eastern District of Texas (Marshall) (March 2013).
Won take nothing defense jury verdict of non-infringement and invalidity for T-Mobile in Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) (February 2013).
Won title dispute over Marcellus Shale Gas acreage in West Virginia (October 2012).
Defeated permanent injunction action by King Ranch against D.R. Horton asserting trademark infringement (relating to sale of “King Ranch Homes”) in Southern District of Texas (July 2012).
Obtained permanent injunction against Cash Store Financial Services for Cottonwood Financial in trademark action in Northern District of Texas (March 2012).
Defended Danisco in patent infringement suit in the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison); judgment for defense (January 2012).
Successfully defended Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in the Northern District of Texas (Dallas) obtaining dismissal of whistle blower claims related to actions of the Commissioners Court (September 2011).
Successfully prosecuted for Northeastern University a patent infringement suit against Google in Eastern District of Texas (Marshall); settled after jury selection (April 2011).
Successfully defended California biotechnology firm in licensing dispute tried to a jury in Eastern District of Michigan (May 2009).*
Successfully defended patent infringement claims against Monitronics, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas (Marshall); jury trial and JMOL (April 2009).*
Major victories for Big-4 accounting firms, including victory in an auditing malpractice case in Washington, D.C. (October 2008).*