William Esser

Practice Areas

Litigation

Financial Restructuring & Insolvency

Commercial Foreclosure & Receivership

Real Estate Litigation

Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution

Appellate

Financial Services Litigation

Career

Will Esser is the chair of Parker Poe's Financial Services Industry Team. His practice focuses primarily on commercial litigation, bankruptcy and creditors' rights, receiverships, foreclosures, loan workouts, and loan sales. He has successfully represented lenders, loan servicers, landlords, municipal governments, creditors' committees, receivers, and investment companies in federal and state court lawsuits, bankruptcies, arbitrations, and restructurings. His areas of particular emphasis include disputes involving loans, real estate, leases, mortgage servicing, title insurance, retail banking, and Ponzi/fraud schemes. He was an initial drafter of the North Carolina Commercial Receivership Act.

Will is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits, as well as each of the federal district and bankruptcy courts in North Carolina. Will is certified by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission (NCDRC) as a Superior Court mediator. Prior to joining Parker Poe, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Paul J. Kelly on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Will is a passionate believer in pro bono work. Much of his pro bono practice is focused on appellate advocacy, including filing amicus briefs in First Amendment cases before the United States Supreme Court and representing abused and neglected children in appeals before the North Carolina appellate courts through the Guardian ad Litem program. He also assists legal aid organizations in collecting judgments obtained against landlords.

Education