William David Pollak
Counsel
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William D. Pollak is a versatile commercial litigator who leverages over a decade of experience to represent companies and individuals in a wide range of high stakes litigation and complex regulatory matters, with a focus on securities, derivative, antitrust, RICO, and class action lawsuits. Will is a business-minded lawyer who provides clients with creative strategies, sound advice and cost-effective solutions to their most pressing matters.
Will also has a wealth of experience representing clients in some of their most challenging internal investigations, as well as white collar and regulatory matters including investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Attorney’s office, various state attorneys general and the Department of Justice. His practice focuses on representing companies as well as individuals in matters involving allegations of fraud, violations of anti-bribery laws, insider trading, money laundering, public corruption, antitrust, and other financial crimes.
Will has achieved favorable results at all stages of litigation and arbitration. For example, he defeated fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims for an accounting firm at the pleadings stage; he recently helped achieve summary judgment and complete dismissal (affirmed on appeal) for a global financial firm related to a telecommunications consortium in a case seeking over $1 billion in damages; and he won an arbitration related to an accounting dispute stemming from an M&A transaction. He also has extensive trial experience, acting as lead counsel on two trials in the last year alone. His high-profile clients have spanned a variety of industries with a particular focus on financial services, broker dealers, media, technology, insurance, accounting, healthcare, energy and biotechnology.
Will is also strongly committed to his pro bono work and has won a number of awards for his pro-bono accomplishments including the 2018 New York State Bar Association’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award “in recognition of his outstanding pro bono contributions.” His representative achievements include overturning a wrongful conviction on appeal, winning a trial in New York Family Court (and the subsequent appeal), obtaining freedom for a wrongfully convicted woman who served twenty five years in prison before being exonerated, and successfully arguing multiple appeals before the New York Appellate Division.
Honors & Awards
- Recommended by The Legal 500 US for ERISA Litigation (2022)
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- New York
- California
Court Admissions
- US District Court, Central and Northern Districts of California, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, and Colorado
- US Court of Appeals, Second and Ninth Circuits
Education
- University of Michigan Law School, J.D.
- Princeton University, B.A.
Professional Activities
Author
- "Despite DOL Proposed Rule, ESG Investing Faces Barriers" Law360 (December, 2021)
Clerkships
- U.S. District Court, New York (Southern), Pitman, Harry
Commercial Litigation
- Defended Reliance Trust Company in trial of putative class action alleging various fiduciary breaches and prohibited transactions under ERISA arising from investment selections and recordkeeping fees in connection with a 401(k) plan.
- Represented a Fortune 100 company in a class action securities fraud and derivative suit alleging fraudulent misrepresentations.
- Successfully defended a global financial firm in various state court actions around the country alleging that various investment banks and prime brokerages engaged in market manipulation and RICO violations in connection with alleged “naked short selling”
- Obtained dismissal of claims against a leading financial institution in a billion-dollar dispute related to a Latin American submarine telecommunications cable network
- Won an arbitration related to the alleged improper accounting for revenue earned after the close of an acquisition.
- Lead associate for a global financial institution in a commercial litigation involving alleged securities fraud related to the valuation of various early stage pharmaceutical drugs.
- Obtained dismissal of state-law class action and derivative claims brought by a putative class of shareholders in connection with alleged misrepresentations by a hedge fund.
- Obtained dismissal of a patent infringement lawsuit against a leading health insurance company related to the alleged improper development of a new healthcare technology involving electronic medical records.
- Represented the joint administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) in connection with more than $10 billion of claims against Lehman Brothers Inc. in the largest SIPC bankruptcy case in history
- Representing a leading private equity firm in several lawsuits filed against its portfolio companies.
White Collar and Regulatory Matters
- Defended a Fortune 10 Company and its senior executives in a wide-ranging SEC investigation involving allegations of accounting fraud, securities fraud, and insider trading.
- Represented the special committee of a global insurance company in an internal investigation and DOJ criminal investigation involving allegations of financial fraud and public corruption.
- Successfully defended a major financial institution in an investigation by the DOJ and SEC into allegations of insider trading, market manipulation, and securities fraud; no charges were ultimately brought.
- Lead counsel in an internal investigations for an international financial institution regarding their compliance with sanctions, AML, and the FCPA.
- Successfully represented a broker dealer in an SEC investigation involving allegations of accounting fraud and tax fraud; no charges were brought.
- Defended a global bank in connection with investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Federal Reserve, Department of Financial Services and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) related to sanctions issues.
- Numerous other representations of funds, investment banks, individuals, and other corporate issuers in various enforcement investigations by the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, New York Attorney General’s Office and DOJ.
- Will has also participated in a number of confidential internal investigations on behalf of clients and has advised corporations and boards of directors on matters of corporate governance and compliance.
Antitrust
- Represented Aetna Inc. in connection with the DOJ’s review of Aetna’s $77 billion sale to CVS Health, the largest M&A transaction in 2017.
- Won dismissal of antitrust claims brought by an alleged class of indirect purchasers of SD Card Flash memory devices.
- Senior associate defending an LCD panel manufacturer in a series of multi-million dollar complex civil litigations around the country alleging improper price fixing.
- Represented Equinix in the DOJ’s review of Equinix’s $689 million acquisition of Switch and Data