William J. Trunk handles high-stakes litigation matters.  Bill represents corporations, their boards of directors, financial institutions, hedge funds, administrative agents and trustees, ad hoc groups and other investors, and individuals in all manner of complex commercial litigation. He has tried cases in federal and state courts across the country, argued appeals in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and represented parties before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bill frequently represents hedge funds and other investors in litigation arising from complex refinancing and liability-management transactions. He represented Aurelius Capital in bet-the-company litigation against telecommunications carrier Windstream Services, in which Aurelius alleged that Windstream had defaulted under its bond indenture. Following a bench trial, the court sided with Aurelius on every issue and awarded the client more than $300 million in damages. Bill also represented holders of defaulted bonds in yearslong litigation against the Republic of Argentina, culminating in a $4.6 billion settlement. Bill also defends companies and their boards of directors against derivative lawsuits, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and related matters. He represented the former independent directors of a Guernsey-based fund sponsored by The Carlyle Group, successfully defending his clients against a $2 billion lawsuit brought by the fund’s liquidators.

In addition to his trial work in state and federal courts around the country, Bill regularly handles appeals in the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court. He briefed and argued the Fourth Circuit criminal appeal of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA agent who was convicted under the Espionage Act for leaking classified material to a New York Times reporter. He also represented parties filing amicus briefs in support of the winning side in two landmark Supreme Court decisions: Murphy v. NCAA, overturning the decades-old federal ban on state-authorized sports betting, and National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, clarifying the scope of the President’s recess-appointment power.

Experience

· Defending a multinational banking company and its affiliates against fraudulent transfer and related claims brought by junior lenders to the American Dream Mall construction project.

· Defending hedge-fund / equity sponsor against fraudulent transfer and breach of fiduciary claims brought by the Chapter 7 Trustee for the jointly administered bankruptcy estates of Bayou Steel.  

· Defending a major health care provider against fraudulent transfer, illegal dividend and related claims brought by the trustee for the QHC Litigation Trust, seeking more than $2 billion in damages.  

· Defending a Fortune 500 company in a federal securities class action alleging misstatements regarding the company’s expected revenue growth, scheduled for trial in summer 2024.  

· Representing crypto stable-coin issuer in Delaware Chancery Court and cross-border litigation arising from dispute over crypto-mining infrastructure. 

· Represented an administrative agent, on behalf of term loan lenders, in an action to set aside a debt exchange as violative of a credit agreement. 

· Tried a complex bondholder dispute arising from exchange offers and consent solicitations launched by Windstream Services, securing a victory on every issue and an award of more than $300 million in damages for the client after a bench trial.

Perspectives

Publications

· Author, Just ‘Because’: A Higher Burden for Proving Retaliation Claims Under the False Claims Act (Sept. 09, 2014)

· Author, The Scourge of Contextualism: Ceremonial Deism and the Establishment Clause (Jan. 02, 2008)

Recognition

· Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC’s Benchmark Litigation (2018 – 2024)

· Thomson Reuters’ Washington, DC, Super Lawyers (2017 – 2022)

Credentials

Education

· J.D., summa cum laude, Boston College School of Law, 2008

· Order of the Coif

· Boston College Law Review

· Dean Dennis A. Dooley Award for Outstanding Scholarship Average (ranked second in graduating class)

· Graduate Student Association Academic Achievement Award

· B.A., summa cum laude, State University of New York at Albany, 2005

· James Unger Memorial Undergraduate Award for Outstanding Research Paper

Bar Admissions

· District of Columbia, 2011

· New York, 2009

Clerkships

· Honorable Richard C. Wesley, U.S.C.A., 2nd Circuit