William F. Devine

William F. Devine has a diverse practice in federal and state courts, arbitration panels and before governmental agencies throughout Virginia and in state and federal courts around the country. Bill works closely with management and in-house counsel to attain the client’s strategic objectives throughout the litigation process.

Practicing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where cases routinely go to trial within six to eight months of filing, has taught Bill to hone in on the critical issues in cases and to focus discovery and aggressive motions practice on these areas.

Recognizing the importance of early, accurate risk assessment and budgeting in litigation, and the potential benefits of alternative dispute resolution in appropriate cases, Bill applies legal project management principles to case analysis and strategy, staffing, information management and budgeting in order to increase efficiency of case management and maximize the predictability of litigation expenses.

Bill handles complex commercial litigation involving contracts; intellectual property; business torts; unfair business and trade practices; interference with contracts and business expectancies; misappropriation of trade secrets and proprietary information; breach of fiduciary duties; fraud and deceptive business practices; business conspiracies; oppressive conduct; dissolution of corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and other business entities; defamation; and multiple claimant litigation on behalf of a wide variety of clients.

Some of his clients include national retailers, municipalities, manufacturers and suppliers, distributors, lenders, real estate developers, resorts and malls. Bill has represented national retailers in recovering overcharges of common area maintenance, taxes, and insurance and has defended national manufacturers and retailers against antitrust, intellectual property, unfair business practice, trade secrets and related claims, as well as a wide variety of contract and business tort actions.

Bill has defended municipalities in toxic tort actions and against claims of improper rezonings and constitutional violations and has represented developers in challenging the inclusion of property in special tax districts and the denial of development permits. He has represented businesses and individuals in insurance coverage disputes and commercial disputes.

Bill is a member of the firm’s State and Local Taxation practice group, focused primarily on property tax assessments. He has represented numerous commercial and industrial property owners in challenging property tax assessments, resulting in significant recoveries of taxes and interest, as well as reducing future tax burdens for the owners. Bill is an active member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation.

Bill is a permanent member of the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, Virginia Bar Association, Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, American Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute and the National Retail Tenants Association.

He serves as a member of the board of directors of Hampton Roads chapter of U.S. Lacrosse and previously served on the board of directors of the Naval Base Little League.

Bill received his law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary in 1986, where he was a member of the William & Mary Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in politics, cum laude, from Washington & Lee University in 1983. Bill was a partner at Hofheimer Nusbaum, P.C., which merged with Williams Mullen in 2004.