• 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.

    • Represented holders of defaulted bonds in yearslong litigation against the Republic of Argentina, culminating in a $4.6 billion settlement.

    • Defended a major healthcare services provider and its directors and officers against federal and state securities-fraud claims arising from a 2016 spinoff transaction.

    • Briefed and argued the Fourth Circuit criminal appeal of Jeffrey A. Sterling, convicted under the Espionage Act for leaking classified material to a New York Times reporter.

    • Defended former independent directors of Carlyle Capital Corporation in multijurisdictional litigation brought by the liquidating trustee seeking nearly $2 billion in damages, winning a complete victory exonerating the clients after a five-month trial.

    • Obtained summary judgment for an international engineering firm defending against a False Claims Act retaliation claim.

    • Represented significant bondholders in a dispute with the Republic of Argentina over defaulted sovereign debt, culminating in a multibillion-dollar settlement.

    • Represented on appeal The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of TOUSA Inc., securing the affirmance of a $500 million judgment awarded by the bankruptcy court.

    • On behalf of a large multinational renewable power company, briefed and won a Second Circuit appeal defending a series of administrative rulings by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

    • Drafted Supreme Court amicus briefs for a trade association on the winning side of National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, relating to the scope of the president’s recess appointment power.

    • Drafted Supreme Court amicus briefs on the winning side of Murphy v. NCAA, overturning the federal statute prohibiting state-authorized sports betting.

    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

    Focus Areas

  • Perspectives

    • Announcements
      Oct. 18, 2023
      Benchmark Litigation 2024 Recognizes Kramer Levin
      Read More
    • Announcements
      Aug. 01, 2023
      William Trunk Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 and Under List for 2023
      Read More
    • Announcements
      Oct. 06, 2022
      Benchmark Litigation 2023 Recognizes Kramer Levin
      Read More
    • Announcements
      July 27, 2022
      Hannah Lee and William Trunk Named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 and Under List for 2022
      Read More
    • Articles
      Sept. 09, 2014
      Just ‘Because’: A Higher Burden for Proving Retaliation Claims Under the False Claims Act
      Read More
    • Articles
      Jan. 02, 2008
      The Scourge of Contextualism: Ceremonial Deism and the Establishment Clause
      Read More

  • Recognition

    2018 – 2024
    Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC’s Benchmark Litigation
    Future Star (2018 – 2024); 40 and Under List
    2017 – 2022
    Thomson Reuters’ Washington, DC, Super Lawyers
    Super Lawyer (2020 – 2022); Rising Star (2017 – 2019)