Bill Forman Joins WilmerHale as Counsel in its Securities Department

WilmerHale is pleased to announce that Bill Forman has joined the firm as Counsel in its Securities Department, where he is a member of the Litigation and Enforcement Practice Group. Mr. Forman is resident in the law firm’s Los Angeles office.

Mr. Forman was most recently with Heller Ehrman, where he was affiliated with the securities litigation practice group. His practice focused on representing “Big Four” accounting firms and individual auditors in actions in state and federal court and before the SEC and PCAOB (the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board). Mr. Forman also has extensive experience representing financial institutions, issuers, and directors and officers in private securities litigation and SEC enforcement matters. In addition to his securities practice, Mr. Forman’s experience includes antitrust, trademark, and patent litigation and trial practice.

With Mr. Forman’s arrival, four former Heller Ehrman attorneys have joined WilmerHale’s Los Angeles office. Last month, Robert Badal joined as Partner in the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group, bringing with him over 35 years of antitrust, intellectual property and complex litigation experience. In addition, former Heller associates Bethany Stevens and Amanda Walker recently joined WilmerHale as associates in the Litigation and Securities Departments.

“Bill’s extensive securities litigation experience, together with his proven ability to litigate and try a wide variety of complex cases, will be a tremendous asset to our clients,” said Randall R. Lee, founding partner of WilmerHale's Los Angeles office.

Forman’s experience includes six years as a Deputy Federal Public Defender in the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Los Angeles. Before that, he was in private practice at Arnold & Porter in Los Angeles. Forman received his JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School and his AB, summa cum laude, from Princeton University. He is admitted to the bar in California.

“I am thrilled to be joining WilmerHale’s preeminent securities litigation and enforcement practice, and I look forward to helping to build and expand that practice on the West Coast,” said Forman.

With the addition of Forman, WilmerHale continues the expansion of its securities enforcement and litigation practice on the West Coast. Last month, Patrick Murphy, formerly a branch chief in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s San Francisco office, joined the firm’s Palo Alto office after eight years at the SEC. Palo Alto-based partner Jonathan Shapiro has over a dozen years of securities litigation and enforcement experience. The firm’s Los Angeles office is led by Randall Lee, former Regional Director of the Pacific Regional Office of the SEC and a former Assistant United States Attorney.

Opened in October 2007, WilmerHale’s Los Angeles office strengthens and expands the firm’s preeminent securities enforcement, securities litigation, white collar defense, intellectual property litigation, and antitrust and competition practices in southern California and throughout the western United States.