Bill Carmody breaks the mold of what to expect in a trial lawyer. As the head of Susman Godfrey’s New York office, Bill leads a booming bet-the-company trial practice – he’s served as lead counsel to industry leaders such as General Electric, Sotheby’s, Uber, TPG, Steve Madden, and industry titans such as Louis Bacon, Daniel Loeb, and Adam Neumann. For plaintiffs, Bill has secured verdicts and settlements in the billions. And, for defendants, he has protected his clients from potential exposure in the billions of dollars.
Carmody is best known for stepping into big high-stakes trials shortly before they are set to begin and getting paid on his results. He’s described as a storyteller with a “preternatural ability” to connect with juries – and “someone whose core skill set is persuading a lay jury in a complex business case.”
Landmark Wins:
Bill is regularly at the helm of the biggest litigation wins in the nation.
- In what’s been described as the “tech trial of the century” – the epic clash over self-driving car technology that pitted Google/Waymo against Uber – Bill stepped in shortly before trial to defend Uber. Although Waymo sought damages of almost $2 billion, Bill and his team got all of Waymo’s experts’ damages opinions struck. After Bill’s public and private opening statements and the presentation of four days of evidence to a federal jury in San Francisco, this high-profile case ended in a favorable settlement.
- In one of the largest individual claims to be litigated this century, WeWork founder Adam Neumann turned to Bill as part of a multi-firm trial team after SoftBank withdrew its offer to buy up to $3 Billion in WeWork stock from Mr. Neumann and other shareholders. A week before trial, the case settled as reported by The New York Times.
- For GE, Bill successfully tried a complex multi-contract case before a jury, leading to a judgment in favor of GE worth more than $160 Million.
- On behalf of a pharmaceutical industry whistleblower, Bill prosecuted novel anti-kickback claims in the Novartis qui tam litigation that resulted in total settlements of $465 Million – which for a case of its kind is the largest recovery ever.
Chosen Leader
Bill is often tapped to lead the country’s most significant litigation. He:
- is serving as lead counsel to the City of Baltimore – whose citizens are more likely to die of an opioid overdose than those of nearly any city in the U.S. – in its ongoing opioid litigation. Thus far Bill’s team has secured over $400 million for the city in deals with Cardinal Health, Johnson & Johnson, CVS and Allergan,
- is serving as court-appointed co-lead counsel in the consolidated antitrust class action arising out of the LIBOR-rate fixing scandal. To date, the action has resulted in settlement recoveries of more than $781 million,
- is serving as lead counsel to plaintiffs in the NFL Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litigation. In June 2024 Carmody and a team from Susman Godfrey obtained a victory after 3 weeks of trial with a jury finding the NFL engaged in a conspiracy and violated the antitrust laws. The jury awarded $4.7 billion damages, which the trial court vacated on a post-trial motion, while leaving untouched the jury’s determination that the NFL violated two different provisions of the Sherman Act. Proceedings in the matter are ongoing. Bonn delivered opening statements at trial among other major responsibilities.
- is taking on Google in a highly publicized privacy class action.
Updated Oct 2024
