Bill Carmody

Practice Areas

Bet-The-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Securities, Mass Tort/Class Actions - Plaintiffs

Career

Bill Carmody breaks the mold of what to expect in a trial lawyer. As the head of Susman Godfrey’s New York office, Bill leads a booming bet-the-company trial practice – he’s served as lead counsel to industry leaders such as General Electric, Sotheby’s, Uber, TPG, Steve Madden, and industry titans such as Louis Bacon, Daniel Loeb, and Adam Neumann. For plaintiffs, Bill has secured verdicts and settlements in the billions. And, for defendants, he has protected his clients from potential exposure in the billions of dollars.

Carmody is best known for stepping into big high-stakes trials shortly before they are set to begin and getting paid on his results. He’s described as a storyteller with a “preternatural ability” to connect with juries – and “someone whose core skill set is persuading a lay jury in a complex business case.” .

Landmark Wins

Bill is regularly at the helm of the biggest litigation wins in the nation.

• In what’s been described as the “tech trial of the century” – the epic clash over self-driving car technology that pitted Google/Waymo against Uber – Bill stepped in shortly before trial to defend Uber. Although Waymo sought damages of almost $2 billion, Bill and his team got all of Waymo’s experts’ damages opinions struck. After Bill’s public and private opening statements and the presentation of four days of evidence to a federal jury in San Francisco, this high-profile case ended in a favorable settlement.

• In one of the largest individual claims to be litigated this century, WeWork founder Adam Neumann turned to Bill as part of a multi-firm trial team after SoftBank withdrew its offer to buy up to $3 Billion in WeWork stock from Mr. Neumann and other shareholders. A week before trial, the case settled as reported by The New York Times.

• For GE, Bill successfully tried a complex multi-contract case before a jury, leading to a judgment in favor of GE worth more than $160 Million.

• On behalf of a pharmaceutical industry whistleblower, Bill prosecuted novel anti-kickback claims in the Novartis qui tam litigation that resulted in total settlements of $465 Million – which for a case of its kind is the largest recovery ever.

Chosen Leader

Bill is often tapped to lead the country’s most significant litigation. He is:

• taking on Google in a highly publicized privacy class action,

• serving as lead counsel to the City of Baltimore – whose citizens are more likely to die of an opioid overdose than those of nearly any city in the U.S. – in its ongoing opioid litigation,

• serving as court-appointed co-lead counsel in the consolidated antitrust class action arising out of the LIBOR-rate fixing scandal. To date, the action has resulted in settlement recoveries of more than $590 million, and

• taking on the NFL and DirectTV as co-lead class counsel to plaintiffs in a California MDL class action litigation alleging DirecTV’s exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket package violates federal antitrust laws.

Professional Memberships

Member, American Board of Trial Advocates

Member, Legal Counsel of America

Fellow, American Bar Association

Publications

Carmody appears frequently in national and international media, and his trials have been featured in hundreds of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Business Week, Bloomberg, The National Law Journal, Texas Lawyer, and The American Lawyer. He has been profiled by Lawdragon in its “Producers” series, by Law 360 for its “Trial Pro” series, and by Forbes. While his trial tactics and betting on his clients’ results have received widespread acclaim, most important to Bill and his clients are the victories earned in the courtroom – and following are just a few.

Clients

Adam Neumann, Founder, WeWork

Brad Berenson General Counsel TPG San Francisco, CA

Richard Heyman CEO Seragon Pharmaceuticals San Diego, CA

Avi Katz Pres./Gen. Counsel Loral Space & Communications New York, NY

Chris Moore General Counsel Angelo Gordon New York, NY

Robert Mnuchin CEO Mnuchin Gallery New York, NY

Bryan Newcombe Gen. Counsel Legal & General America Rockville, MD

Josh Targoff General Counsel Third Point LLC New York, NY

Education

Awards