Bill Reid is a partner with Diamond McCarthy. Bill joined Diamond McCarthy just after it was formed following a three-year stint as an Assistant U. S. Attorney in the Western District of Texas, where he specialized in complex drug prosecutions. As an AUSA, Bill tried 25 cases to verdict and prosecuted hundreds of cases annually.

Although Bill handles all types of complex litigation, almost entirely on the plaintiff's side of the docket, Bill's primary areas of practice include insolvency, professional malpractice, business fraud, complex commercial cases, and soft intellectual property litigation. He has extensive experience in claims against the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, fiduciary litigation, and bad-faith insurance actions. In addition, Bill handles a docket of money-laundering-related cases, both as trial counsel and as liaison counsel to various foreign clients and their foreign lawyers.

In the past several years, Bill has led or co-led Diamond McCarthy teams to well over $100 million in settlements and judgments. Bill frequently utilizes an outside lawyer to act as settlement counsel in significant cases. Settlement counsel essentially handles all settlement-related tasks, allowing Bill and his teams to focus on litigation. This approach has been instrumental in the success that his teams have enjoyed.

In addition to the use of settlement counsel, Bill's litigation teams typically include third-party litigation professionals and consultants, including, various former federal FBI and DEA agents who specialize in investigation, asset recovery, and money laundering, and Courtroom Intelligence Inc. (one of the leading trial consulting firms).

Recent cases in which Bill has served as either acting lead or co-lead counsel include the following:

• The ongoing representation of the post-confirmation liquidating trustee in the USA Capital case in Las Vegas federal court. The USA Capital case involves a $960 million Ponzi scheme related to the management of a sub-prime mortgage servicer. Recently, Bill successfully tried a $4 million fraudulent transfer case to judgment versus a reputed Gambino crime family member. Since then, Bill has favorably settled several claims against USA Capital's professionals and is now leading a trial team seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages from USA Capital's remaining professionals.
  
  
• The ongoing representation of the Cayman Liquidators for Trade & Commerce Bank and Establishment for International Investment Inc. in connection with an $800 money-laundering scheme in which the two entities' creditors were victimized by several South American money launderers.
  
  
• The ongoing representation of Versata Software, Inc. (f/k/a Trilogy Development Group, Inc.) in a copyright infringement and breach of license agreement suit against various GE entities in Austin federal court seeking over $30 million in damages.
  
  
• The ongoing representation of the rightful trademark owner for the Monte Carlo cigarette brand in connection with claims against Japan Tobacco and others for cigarette smuggling in former Yugoslavia and the Balkans.
  
  
• The ongoing representation of an American businessperson against a Swiss-based, Delaware LLC in connection with its breach of a stock transfer agreement in which the defendant failed to timely register the stock as agreed. Damages exceed $30 million, and the suit is pending in Delaware Superior Court.
  
  
• The successful prosecution and settlement of a shareholder derivative action for breach of fiduciary duty against certain fiduciaries for misallocating $2.5 billion in proceeds stemming from the sale of the Grey Goose Vodka line to Bacardi. The case settled recently for a confidential amount. See Bakerman v. Sidney Frank Importing Company, 2006 WL 3927242 (Del. Ch. 2006).
  
  
• Recent settlement of a class action in McAllen federal court for breach of contract on behalf of thousands of bond indemnitors who were victimized by a group of bail bond agents and insurance companies. Just prior to trial, a settlement was reached for $5.2 million.
  
  
• The successful prosecution and partial settlement for a confidential amount of claims for breach of contract and copyright infringement in a software dispute against GreenPoint Mortgage over the continued use of the plaintiffs' licensed software post-termination, as well as the unlawful sublicensing of the software to third parties. The team continues to prosecute additional claims for sublicensing against GreenPoint and a Dallas law firm. See Companies Allege Dallas Firm Misappropriated Mortgage Database, TEXAS LAWYER, June 30, 2008.
  
  
• The simultaneous representation of a bankruptcy trustee and a group of 1,100 investors/creditors in the InverWorld case in the state and federal courts in San Antonio. To date, third-party litigation recoveries in the case exceed $54 million. Bill acted as lead counsel in prosecuting claims against, inter alios, Deloitte & Touche, which were settled for $26.8 million. See Gutierrez v. Deloitte & Touche, 147 F. Supp. 2d 584 (W.D. Tex. 2001) (defeated SLUSA jurisdiction in federal court). See Gutierrez v. The Cayman Islands Firm of Deloitte & Touche, 100 S.W.3d 261 (Tex. App. - San Antonio 2002) (handled the oral argument and convinced the court of appeals to reverse the trial court and find personal jurisdiction over Deloitte Cayman).
  
  
• The successful prosecution and settlement (for $1.34 million) under the FTCA of a malicious prosecution case against the IRS for its pursuit of Alan Brown and Jean Brown, two prominent San Antonio attorneys, on bogus tax charges stemming from a five-year investigation that concluded in Alan Brown's acquittal. See Payback Time: San Antonio Lawyers Fought the IRS and Won, TEXAS LAWYER, April 16, 2007.
  
  
• The successful defense of RaboAgrifinance, a Rabobank subsidiary, on a $7 million breach of contract and wrongful foreclosure action related to a 7,000-acre ranch in west Texas. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a take-nothing verdict completely exonerating the client. Recently, Bill led a team that won two follow-on back-to-back bench trials. All of these victories are on appeal, except for one $4 million summary judgment that was affirmed. See Rabo Agrifinance, Inc. v. Terra XXI, Ltd., 2007 WL 4305378 (5th Cir. 2007).
  
  
• The successful contingent-fee representation of an Austin businessperson in the pursuit of bad-faith insurance claims against Western Heritage Insurance Co. A three-week jury trial in Austin state court resulted in a $6.5 million jury verdict, which was later settled at a discount.
  
  
• The successful representation of the LJM2 Creditors Liquidation Trust in pursuit of legal malpractice claims against a nationally recognized law firm, in addition to accounting malpractice claims against PWC all arising out of the Enron fraud. The resulting pre-suit settlements totaled $8.6 million (handled on an hourly basis for fees of less than $2 million).
  
  
• The successful representation of Rabobank International, in the pursuit and settlement of various negligent misrepresentation claims against PwC Mexico.

Bill is a member of the American Bar Association, the Fifth Circuit Bar Association, the New York State Bar, and the State Bar of Texas. After law school, Bill served as a law clerk to the Honorable Reynaldo G. Garza, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Bill received his J. D., cum laude, from St. John's University School of Law in 1992. While at St. John's, Bill was an editor on the ST. JOHN'S LAW REVIEW and the NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW. Bill received a dual degree: B. A. (Economics) and B. S. (Accounting), cum laude, from the University of Connecticut at Storrs in 1989.