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Introduction
White and Williams is a large, diversified law firm engaged in substantially all aspects of civil practice for a wide range of sophisticated clients. The firm provides high quality, specialized services in a variety of disciplines, with particular emphasis on litigation, transactional matters, and general corporate representation. We are committed to satisfying clients, both as to the quality of representation and cost.
We trace our origins in Philadelphia to 1899, and presently maintain our principal office at One Liberty Place in Philadelphia. Our other offices are also in the mid-Atlantic region, in Allentown, PA, Paoli, PA, Pittsburgh, PA,?New York, NY, Cherry Hill, NJ,?Paramus, NJ, and Wilmington, DE.
The Partnership
White and Williams is a partnership of experienced attorneys who were trained by previous generations of White and Williams' partners. The partners are responsible for supervising the legal services provided by the firm's associates, paralegals, and other support staff. We endeavor to provide the highest quality legal services in the most cost-effective way, with the appropriate mix of professional and support personnel for each matter.
Each partner is fully accessible to the firm's clients, as well as to the firm's associates. The partners' knowledge and expertise are always available to ensure the thorough attention to detail necessary for excellence in legal representation.
Our Clients
The firm represents a diverse group of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to small and medium-sized businesses. The firm has always provided legal services for emerging growth companies, many of which have become substantial enterprises. We regularly represent banks, bank-holding companies, manufacturers, insurance companies, colleges and universities, service and distribution companies, health care institutions, real estate developers, retailers, title insurance companies, brokerage firms, and individuals.
Our Areas of Practice
Given the complexities of today's business and legal world, it is not surprising that the firm's attorneys focus their practices in specific areas of civil law. Partners and associates work in departments or practice groups which concentrate in the following areas: Business, Corporate, Real Estate And Commercial Law
The firm is engaged in all aspects of corporate and commercial practice. There are Corporate, Finance and Creditors' Rights, and Real Estate practice groups.
- Corporate Group
- Attorneys in this group handle all matters relating to the formation, governance, operation, and dissolution of business organizations. They advise clients regarding the appropriate form of the business organization, assist in its formation, and in certain regulated industries, they prepare the appropriate regulatory documentation and assist the client in obtaining required governmental approvals. If and when financing is required, the Corporate Group assists clients in structuring and documenting the transaction, and advises the client in choosing between borrowing and issuing securities, and in drafting joint venture or partnership agreements. The Corporate Group also provides counsel for public offerings, private placements, offshore exempt offerings, leveraged buy-outs, mergers and acquisitions, shareholder agreements, stock repurchase agreements and programs, and syndications. Its attorneys have extensive experience in dealing with all major federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve Board, the FDIC, and the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Group's diverse clientele includes banks and bank holding companies, real estate partnerships and syndicates, health care providers, mineral exploration companies, insurance companies, and manufacturing and distribution companies.
- Finance And Creditors' Rights Group
- This group's commercial finance expertise encompasses documentation of a wide variety of transactions, including secured and unsecured lending, letters of credit, bond offerings, equipment leasing, ship mortgages, financing collateralized by real estate mortgages, and aircraft financing. The creditors' rights practice includes counseling clients on creditors' rights issues, representation of lenders and borrowers in insolvencies, work-outs and loan restructurings, as well as the representation of creditors in business bankruptcies and reorganizations. This group has an active litigation practice before all bankruptcy courts in this region. The Finance and Creditors' Rights Group represents national and state banks, mutual savings banks, private banks, Edge Act banks and corporations, clearing houses, insurance companies, individuals, partnerships, corporations, and public trusts.
- Real Estate Group
- The Real Estate Group has an extensive practice in the areas of construction, tax free and permanent financing, syndications, title insurance claims, underwriting and agency matters, acquisitions, zoning and code compliance, environmental matters dealing with real estate, leases, condominium, cooperative, and homeowner association representation and counseling, and creditors' rights involving real estate. This latter area includes reorganizations, foreclosures, and "work-outs," both within and outside of the bankruptcy courts. This group represents and works with a myriad of real estate-related businesses and institutions including developers, banks and other institutional lenders, title insurance companies and agencies, contractors, real estate brokers and their companies, and investors. Tax, Pension And Labor Law Groups
Clients of all types require attorney expertise in areas of concern ancillary to their primary businesses.
- Tax and Pension Group
- Our tax and pension attorneys concentrate on federal, state, local, and international tax matters, including ERISA and employee benefits, corporate reorganizations, tax shelters, partnerships, and tax-exempt organizations. They assist individual and corporate clients in all phases of business and investment transactions, as well as in tax litigation.
- Labor Law Group
- We represent management in collective bargaining, matters before the National Labor Relations Board, union organizing drives, and labor arbitrations, as well as all aspects of EEO, ADEA, ERISA, LMRA, and FLSA counseling and litigation. Legal Services For Individuals
White and Williams' partners and associates typically counsel individuals in estate planning and administration, estate and gift taxation, real estate acquisitions, investments, and employment agreements. Litigation
White and Williams has a widely recognized reputation for excellence in litigation. We represent businesses, insurance companies, and individuals in all aspects of civil litigation in state and federal courts. In addition to our regional practice, the firm's attorneys regularly manage complex litigation on a national level. The breadth and sophistication of the litigation practice is a source of pride for the firm and comfort for our clients. This practice covers the following areas:
- Business Litigation
- This representation includes business disputes among shareholders, principals, and partners, anti-trust and securities litigation, and traditional breach of contract cases. We also handle injunction lawsuits in which clients require immediate resolution of a dispute, class action litigation, real estate and title insurance litigation, insurance and reinsurance coverage disputes, defense of professional liability claims made against accountants and lawyers, trade secret and intellectual property litigation, RICO claims and employment litigation, including wrongful discharge, employment discrimination, and matters under ERISA.
- General Liability
- The firm defends litigants on behalf of insurance carriers, as well as self-insureds, in a wide variety of personal injury litigation, including automobile liability, liquor liability, premises liability, construction liability, aviation law, marine law, and first-party insurance liability.
- Environmental Litigation and Toxic Tort Claims
- We represent litigants in cases arising out of environmental issues, including Superfund cleanup, CERCLA, and other toxic waste litigation, as well as litigation arising out of use and exposure to asbestos products and materials. White and Williams has represented various manufacturers, insurers, and groups in the defense of asbestos claims, and has played a major role in developing sophisticated and cost effective programs for the defense of asbestos claims in the region.
- Medical Malpractice and Medical Products Defense
- The firm represents hospitals, physicians, allied health professionals, pharmaceutical companies, and manufacturers of medical devices in a broad range of litigation, including medical malpractice defense litigation. Through the Healthcare Law Group, we handle a broad range of matters for health care institutions, including general representation and counseling in health care law, staff credentialing, medical staff by-laws, ethics, hazardous waste, employment contracts, and anti-trust matters.
- Product Liability
- We represent local, regional, and national companies in products cases and have considerable experience working for self-insured and self-directed companies. Our clients include automotive, manufacturing, and construction equipment companies. In addition to our regional practice, clients regularly seek our expertise to manage complex, national products litigation.
- Property Litigation
- The practice group covers the area of property litigation, such as property subrogation, first-party coverage disputes, arson and fraud defense matters, third-party defense of negligence and products claims involving property losses, and defense of malpractice claims against insurance agents and brokers. Attorneys in this group work closely with clients in managing complex litigation in this substantive area of law.
Legal Services For Insurance Companies And Self-Insured Companies
We represent a number of major insurance carriers and self-insured companies in the mid-Atlantic region and throughout the country with regard to specialized legal issues involving their respective industries. This includes advice, consultation, and litigation of insurance coverage disputes, along with reinsurance coverage in both a non-litigation context and in arbitration, mediation and court. The firm also acts as monitoring counsel for insurance and self-insured companies in specialty litigation including mass disaster, toxic tort, director and officer liability, professional and accounting liability litigation. The firm is active in the American Arbitration Association, the Center for Public Resources, court-directed arbitration and mediation, and various other alternative dispute resolution organizations. We work with clients to develop alternative cost-efficient dispute mechanisms in order to avoid the time and expense of protracted court litigation.
Special Groups
Attorneys at White and Williams have formed several innovative, interdisciplinary practice groups, including the Healthcare Law Group, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Group, and the Hi-Tech Law Group. These enable the firm to deal with highly complex problems for clients which require the expertise of corporate lawyers, tax lawyers, and labor lawyers, as well as trial lawyers and mediators, to deal with legal issues unique to the health care industry, the "hi-tech" industry, and to clients seeking alternatives to traditional "court" litigation.
Our Regional Offices
Business has become regional in scope and the firm has responded by opening additional offices in the mid-Atlantic region. The regional approach allows us to provide representation for clients outside of Philadelphia with the same level of sophistication and quality. Attorneys in the regional offices work closely with the partners and associates at the principal office in Philadelphia and are able to draw upon their expertise whenever the legal issues confronting clients require it. Our offices are centrally managed in order to ensure uniformity of both quality and fees.
Commitment To The Profession And To The Community
The partners have long believed in supporting activities which contribute to the enhancement of the legal profession and to the larger communities in which we live and work. Lawyers from the firm have held public service posts such as counsel to the President of the United States, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, United States Senator, United States Representative, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, and Chair of the Pennsylvania Environmental Review Board. Former members of the firm have served as Federal District Court judges, Circuit Court of Appeals judge, and as state court judges.
White and Williams has a tradition of leadership in professional bar activities. Members of the firm have served as Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, on the Board of Governors of the Association, and as president of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation.
Our attorneys regularly devote time and resources to various civic organizations and charitable groups by serving on the boards of a variety of health care, educational, religious and charitable institutions. The firm has taken a pro-active stance in providing pro bono services through bar association programs in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and encourages partners and associates to give of their time to this important work.
Lawyers from White and Williams often lecture and teach at area colleges and law schools, and in Continuing Legal Education programs, and regularly contribute articles to law journals and business publications.
A Final Word
The partners and associates of White and Williams expect our clients to demand the highest level of legal representation. Businesses, non-profit institutions, and individuals need lawyers who will assist them in making business and personal decisions and, if necessary, zealously represent them in court. This can be accomplished successfully only if careful attention is paid to the client's goals, the legal framework in which the client operates, the legal issues facing the client, and our profession's ethics.
White and Williams can and does provide these legal services to clients in the most cost-effective manner.
Our attorneys have the skills, creativity, and motivation to provide clients with high quality legal representation at affordable rates. We look forward to maintaining and expanding our relationships with existing clients and to making ourselves available for the representation of new clients.
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