William Cronin
wcronin@corrcronin.com

Practice / Experience

Mr. Cronin’s practice focuses on business litigation, representing both plaintiffs and defendants.  He has considerable experience representing law firms, accounting firms, corporate officers and directors, and majority and minority stockholders in securities litigation, professional liability litigation, and corporate control disputes.  During his career, Mr. Cronin has represented:  Exxon Corp. in a large tax dispute with the State of Alaska involving a claim in excess of $1 billion; Exxon and Arco Alaska in a major dispute with Chevron, Mobil and Phillips over the respective ownership interests in the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, the largest oil field in North America; Georgia Pacific Corporation, AT&T Wireless, Pendleton Woolen Mills, Todd Shipyards and Champion International as plaintiffs in major insurance coverage disputes; and Amazon.com and AT&T Wireless in major contract disputes.
 
Education / Background

• J.D., University of Southern California Law School, 1975
  • Order of the Coif
  • Briedenbach Scholarship
  • American Jurisprudence Award for Constitutional Law, 1974
• University of Oregon Law School, 1972-1973
  • Oregon Law Alumni Scholarship
• B.A., cum laude, Brown University, 1970
• Joined Bogle & Gates PLLC in 1978, and was a Member from 1983 to 1999
• Associate Attorney, O’Melveny & Myers, Los Angeles, California, 1975-1978
• Admitted to the Bar in California in 1975 and in Washington State in 1978

Representative Clients

• Alyeska Pipeline Service Company
• Atlantic Richfield Company
• Amazon.com
• Aramark
• Arco Alaska, Inc.
• AT&T Wireless
• Champion International
• Earle M. Jorgensen Company
• Exxon and ExxonMobil Corporation
• Georgia-Pacific
• Glacier Northwest
• Longview Fibre Company
• Lynden Transport
• Pendleton Woolen Mills
• The Port of Seattle
• Royal Bank of Canada
• Southland Corporation
• State of Washington
• Todd Shipyards
• U.S. Filter, Inc

Significant Complex / Commercial Litigation

• AT&T v. Federal Insurance (2003–2007).  Corr Cronin represented AT&T Mobility in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Federal Insurance Company to recover amounts allegedly due on a directors and officers insurance policy.  After a three week jury trial in Delaware Superior Court in July, 2007, AT&T obtained a verdict for $9.25 million against Federal.  Mr. Cronin was lead trial counsel in this matter.
• Amazon.com v. Expedia, Inc. (2002–2004).  Corr Cronin represented Amazon.com in a lawsuit filed against Expedia, Inc. for breach of contract for recovery of in excess of $12,000,000.  Expedia asserted counterclaims.  The case was settled shortly before trial and settlement terms are confidential.  Mr. Cronin served as lead counsel.
• Fluor Corporation v. AT&T Wireless (2003).  Corr Cronin and Perkins Coie represented AT&T Wireless in a multi-million dollar claim asserted by Fluor Corporation against AT&T Wireless arising out of a contract between AT&T Wireless and Fluor Corporation for the construction of cell tower and cell tower service centers across the country.  The case was ultimately settled.  The settlement terms are confidential.
• In re River Park Square Project Bond Litigation (2001–2005).  Corr Cronin represented the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis in consolidated actions filed by plaintiff investors arising out of the sale of approximately $31 million of bonds for the purchase of the River Park Square parking garage.  Plaintiffs included institutional investors, individual investors represented by U.S. Bank as trustee, and an insurance company that provided insurance on $13 million of bonds.  Plaintiffs alleged claims under federal and state securities laws and under state common law against the City of Spokane, the developers of the project, Prudential, the Spokane Downtown Foundation, Walker Consultants and two law firms.  Corr Cronin represented the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis who had served as bond counsel and issuer’s counsel in the transaction.  All claims against Preston Gates & Ellis were settled prior to trial.  Mr. Cronin served as lead counsel for Preston.
• Glacier Northwest v King County and Preserve Our Islands, et al. (2004).  Corr Cronin represented Glacier Northwest in a trial de novo before the Shorelines Hearings Board (“SHB”) regarding Glacier’s application for a permit to modify and construct a dock for the export of sand and gravel from an island mine.  Despite local opposition to the permit request and King County’s denial of and opposition to the permit request, Glacier prevailed after a two-week trial before the SHB and obtained a unanimous ruling in Glacier’s favor.  Mr. Cronin served as lead trial counsel.
• VersusLaw, Inc. v. Stoel Rives, et al. (2002–2007).  Mr. Cronin was engaged to represent a law firm and individual attorney defendants against claims of legal malpractice arising from a failed licensing relationship and underlying arbitration proceeding.  Corr Cronin obtained a summary judgment for all defendants dismissing the plaintiff’s $12 million claim, but the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for trial.  The matter was subsequently settled and settlement terms are confidential.
• North Slope Borough v. U.S. Filter, Inc., et al. (2001–2003).  Corr Cronin represented U.S. Filter, Inc. in a twenty million dollar action filed by the North Slope Borough in Barrow, Alaska against U.S. Filter, Inc. and Hydropro, Inc.  The complaint alleged numerous claims arising from the alleged failure of water filtration systems installed at five native villages on the North Slope of Alaska.  After obtaining a summary judgment dismissing the Borough’s claims under the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices Act, U.S. Filter settled the remaining claims shortly before trial.  The settlement terms are confidential.  Mr. Cronin served as lead counsel for U.S. Filter.
• State of Alaska v. Exxon Corporation (1995–1997.)  This was a tax dispute arising from Alaska’s $1.3 billion tax assessment against Exxon.  Mr. Cronin was lead counsel for Exxon through six months of trial.  During trial, Mr. Cronin directed a team of 3 law firms and over 10 lawyers and obtained a result that reduced the tax assessment on Exxon by 80% and saved Exxon nearly $1 billion off the assessment sought by the State of Alaska at trial. 
  
• Champion International v. Aetna (1990–1992). Represented Champion International, plaintiff in a multi-million dollar insurance coverage case filed against 62 insurance companies in state court in Washington.  After two years of litigation, Champion obtained in excess of $40 million in settlement from the defendant insurance companies.
• Georgia-Pacific v. Aetna (1992–1995). Represented Georgia-Pacific and subsidiaries who were plaintiffs in a multi-million dollar insurance coverage case filed against 87 insurance companies in state court in Washington.  After nearly three years of litigation, Georgia-Pacific obtained in excess of $50 million in settlement from defendant insurance companies.
• Phillips Petroleum, et al. v. Arco Alaska, Inc., et al. (1985–1989). Mr. Cronin served as lead counsel for Arco Alaska, Atlantic Richfield and Exxon Corporation in a dispute with Mobil, Phillips, and Chevron relating to ownership rights in the Prudhoe Bay oil field, the largest oil and gas field in North America. Claims included alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, conversion and breach of contract by Arco Alaska as operator of the Prudhoe Bay Unit.  Bogle & Gates obtained a summary judgment for their clients on a $500 million conversion claim before trial and proceeded through a three month trial in Delaware on the remaining claims asserted by Mobil, Phillips and Chevron. The matter concluded in a post-trial settlement.
• Prudhoe Bay Arbitration No. 1 (1983–1985).  Mr. Cronin served as lead counsel for Arco Alaska, Inc. in a two-year commercial arbitration before six technical experts arising out of ownership disputes at Prudhoe Bay.   Parties to the arbitration were Mobil, Phillips, Chevron, Arco, Exxon and Standard Oil Company of Ohio.

• David Zapolsky, Associate General Counsel, Litigation, Amazon.com, Seattle, Washington, (206-266-1323)
• Richard Wallis, Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington, (425-703-2006)
• J. Joel Mercer, Jr., Senior Counsel, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Atlanta, Georgia, (404-652-6112)
• Randall Ebner, Associate General Counsel, Exxon Mobil, Houston, Texas  77002, (713-656-6417)
• David Hinshaw, General Tax Counsel, Exxon Mobil., Houston, Texas  77002,  (713-656-6757)
• Scott Isaacson, Vice President, California Portland Cement Co., Glendora, CA, (626-691-2285)
• Diane Bonina, Chief Litigation Counsel, West/Central, AT&T Mobility, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, (847-248-3473)
• Cynthia L. Hennessy, Legal & External Affairs, AT&T Mobility, Redmond, WA, (425-580-4738)

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