Biography
Bill has over 40 years’ experience assisting all types of businesses with complex mergers and acquisitions, real estate matters, protecting the rights of creditors and securitizing creditors’ rights, and counseling individuals and businesses on debtor/creditor issues. He has practiced in three of the firm’s offices, building relationships statewide. Bill’s bottom-line business sense and responsiveness are well known to his clients.
Areas of Focus
+Financial Services Regulatory
- As one of two primary outside counsel to the Monitor under the National Mortgage Servicing Settlement and several other consumer compliance regulatory settlements, a thorough understanding of current mortgage loan servicing standards, including those under the National Mortgage Settlement and those of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
- State and federal corporate, commercial and consumer regulatory compliance issues for bank holding companies and their subsidiaries and farm credit institutions
- Extensive contract review, analysis, drafting and negotiation in a broad array of practice disciplines
- Multi-jurisdictional practice and analysis of laws and regulations for clients involved in multi-state transactions
+Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy
- In-depth understanding of agricultural cooperatives, including their structure and operations
- Significant debtor/creditor work-out experience in an array of financing transactions, and an extensive creditor bankruptcy practice from 1979 up to 1998
- General civil litigation experience from 1975 through 1988, which experience included jury trials in state and federal courts
+Business Organizations & Transactions
- Broad range of experience in business transactional matters, including financing transactions, sale and securitization of assets, and the purchase or sale of businesses in a variety of industries, or assets used in such businesses (e.g., banking, savings and loans, agriculture, food service, engineering, solid waste disposal)
+Real Estate Development
- Broad range of financing transactional experience involving commercial lending and real estate lending, conduit lending and other securitization transactional matters
Credentials
+Community & Professional Activity
North Carolina Bar Association, Board of Governors, 1994-1997; Continuing Education Committee, 1997-1999; Real Property Section Council Vice Chairman, 1987-1988 and Chairman, 1988-1989; Legislative Advisory Committee, 1992-1994; Multi-disciplinary task force, 1999-2002
North Carolina Bar Association’s Mentor Program 2011 to present
North Carolina Legal Aid Call4All Pro Bono Volunteer 2012 to present
American Bar Association
North Carolina Bar Association
Wake County Bar Association
+Education
Wake Forest University School of Law, J.D., 1975
North Carolina State University, B.A., 1972
+Notable Accomplishments
Fellow, American Bar Foundation
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® Raleigh Best Lawyers’ Real Estate Law Lawyer of the Year for 2021, Banking and Finance Law Lawyer of the Year for 2012, (Banking and Finance Law), 2006 – 2013-2017, 2021, 2023-2024, (Financial Services Regulation Law) 2013-2017,2021, 2023-2024, (Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law) 2021, 2023-2024, and (Real Estate Law) 2013-2017, 2021, 2023-2024
Ranked among Law and Politics magazine’s North Carolina “Super Lawyers” (Banking), 2006
