William “Bill” J. Blechman concentrates on the specific client interests as plaintiffs of large public and private companies, entrepreneurs, and public agencies, rather than on class actions or mass actions. As part of his practice, Bill assists multinational corporations in formulating and implementing measured and principled strategies to maximize recoveries in international cartel claims. His cartel practice spans the United States, Europe, and Asia, and involves proceedings incident to enforcement actions by the United States Department of Justice or foreign competition authorities, including the European Commission, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, and the Korean Fair Trade Commission.
Bill has represented companies in direct actions, i.e., as opt-outs from class actions, involving domestic or international conspiracies, including: In re Citric Acid Antitrust Litigation; In re Rubber Processing Chemicals Antitrust Litigation; In re Parcel Tanker Antitrust Litigation; In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation; In re Puerto Rican Cabotage Antitrust Litigation; In re Nitrile Rubber Antitrust Litigation; In re Ferrosilicon Antitrust Litigation; In re Monosodium Glutamate Antitrust Litigation; In re Polychloroprene Antitrust Litigation; In re Linerboard Antitrust Litigation; In re Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation; In re Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) Antitrust Litigation; In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation; In re Styrene Butadiene Rubber Antitrust Litigation; In re Ethylene Propylene Diene Antitrust Litigation; In re Nucleotides Antitrust Litigation; In re Polyurethane Foam Antitrust Litigation; In re Graphite Electrodes Antitrust Litigation; In re Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litigation; and In re Sorbates Antitrust Litigation.Bill has represented companies in antitrust cases involving monopolization claims in industries including electronic payments services, telecommunications, airlines, shipping, and construction. In particular, he has been among the lawyers involved in the civil antitrust direct actions against Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, which involve claims for damages and injunctive relief to reform the electronic payments industry. Previously, he was among the lawyers leading an antitrust case by a low fare air carrier against a legacy carrier, culminating in a landmark federal appellate decision upholding the low fare airline’s predatory pricing claim.Bill has represented the Attorneys General of several States in the prosecution of or advice regarding bid rigging conspiracies in the dairy, transportation, and road building industries.
While antitrust work dominates his practice, Bill has a niche practice representing whistleblowers in claims brought under the Federal or a State False Claims Act. These cases place a premium on coordination with Federal and State law enforcement agencies. He has represented whistleblowers, as relators (or plaintiffs), in False Claims Act cases in the defense, health care, and education industries.Bill has tried cases for plaintiffs and defendants in Federal and State courts, taught pretrial procedure and practice at a law school, lectured and published papers on antitrust law, and taught seminars on various other topics in the law. His writings have been published in law reviews, legal textbooks, business newspapers, and other periodicals. In particular, he was a contributor to the ABA Antitrust Section’s Response to the European Commission’s “Green Paper: Damages Actions for Breach of EC Antitrust Rules.” He also was a contributor to the ABA Antitrust Section’s 2008 Transition Report on the Justice Department for the Obama Administration.Bill’s community service takes several forms. He is a member of the National Board of Directors of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues. NAUDL is the national leader in the urban debate movement, and provides debate programming to urban middle and high school students. Bill is an officer of the Blechman Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, an IRS § 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization dedicated to raising awareness about and scientific funding for Parkinson’s Disease. Bill also endows the Julius A. Greenhouse Scholarship at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, which funds loans to fourth year dental students to provide dental services in under-served communities in the U.S. and abroad.Bill was born in Miami Beach, Florida. He earned his B.A., with honors, from Harvard College, and his J.D., with honors, from the University of Miami School of Law where he served as an editor on the Law Review. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Jose A. Gonzalez, Jr., United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida.
Lawyer Client Comments