Bickel & Brewer

View the profile as it appeared in New York Super Lawyers 2008 - Metro (PDF)

WILLIAM A. BREWER III ALWAYS HAD A VISION: To build a law firm custom-tailored to handle bet-the-business litigation. Twenty years after its founding, Bickel & Brewer is now reshaping the litigation landscape by its handling of some of the world’s largest and most complex cases. The firm specializes in cases that involve substantial business and financial exposure, cutting-edge legal issues or significant public policy questions.

“My partners and I built a firm designed to handle the largest and most complex cases, no matter the forum, industry or subject matter,” Brewer says. “Our firm is defined by its commitment to win each and every time we each take an assignment.”

HIGH-POWERED AND HIGH-TECH

Brewer is a driving force behind the firm and its commitment to be the best. Innovative and progressive, Bickel & Brewer was among the first firms in the nation to develop an in-house consulting group, commission the development of a state-of-the-art information management system and develop an offshore operation. Brewer has pioneered the use of alternative-fee arrangements, and he recently made national headlines yet again for forming one of the first investigation units developed exclusively for the firm’s clients. Testament to such inroads is the collection of news outlets that regularly chronicle Brewer’s work Ð The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Forbes, Fortune, The National Law Journal and The New York Times are just a few.

COMMUNITY FOCUSED

Brewer’s professional drive is matched by his well-known commitment to community service in New York and around the country. He is chairman of the Bickel & Brewer Storefront, the firm’s community service legal affiliate. He also serves as chairman of the Bickel & Brewer Foundation, which creates, funds and manages a wide range of programmatic responses to areas of academic and community need.

One such program is the Bickel & Brewer Latino Institute for Human Rights at New York University School of Law, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at training future generations of advocates committed to confronting and rectifying social injustices facing Latino communities. The program offers institute fellows full law scholarships, on-the-ground client work and intensive training. Institute fellows benefit from a real-world educational experience that uniquely prepares them to provide representation for the world’s most important public policy matters. “This institute is among our Foundation’s most important undertakings,” Brewer says. “We have the opportunity to share resources, inspiration and opportunity with future lawyers who will help shape legal and public policy in our nation’s Latino communities. These young men and women may one day change the world.”

EDUCATION B.A., cum laude, St. John’s University; J.D., cum laude, Albany Law School of Union University; Master’s of Law, New York University School of Law

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