A
native Tennessean, Bill joined our Classmates, Al Blumberg and Charlie
Coolidge, to become the first cadets to enter the Academy from their
hometown of Chattanooga. For his first two years at the Academy, Bill
was a member of 1st Squadron before moving to 3rd Squadron as part
of the third-class shuffle. While at the Academy, Bill
consistently beat the Dean and was also named to the Superintendents
List.
At
graduation, Bill received the Col. Paul D. Brosman award as the Outstanding
Cadet in Law. Thereafter, he served as a Procurement Officer, at McConnell
AFB, Kansas, before entering law school at the University of North
Carolina, under the Air Forces excess-leave program. After receiving
his Juris Doctor Degree in 1972, Bill was assigned as Assistant Staff
Judge Advocate, for the 12th Flying Training Wing, Randolph AFB, Texas,
where he tried a variety of courts martial and administrative board
proceedings. In 1974, Bill was selected for the Air Forces advanced
legal degree program. He attended Yale Law School, where he received
his LL.M. Degree in environmental law. Following his graduation from
Yale, Bill was assigned to the General Litigation Division of the
Office of The Judge Advocate General, in Washington, D.C. There, he
was responsible for the defense of all Air Force federal court litigation
involving environmental and real-estate related matters.
In 1978,
Bill separated from active duty and joined the Denver-based law firm
of Holland & Hart, LLP. Over the course of the next 35+ years,
Bill practiced commercial litigation, where he tried literally hundreds
of cases involving environmental, products liability, banking and
corporate finance, ski defense, securities and antitrust matters.
Professionally, Bill was a member of the American Bar Association,
National Lawyers Association (Board member and Past President), Federalist
Society, Defense Research Institute and the Colorado, Denver and El
Paso County Bar Associations.
Of particular
interest to us have been his many years of service to our Association
of Graduates as a Board member, including two terms as Vice-Chairman.
In addition, for the past 10 years, Bill has served on the Board (including
terms as Board Secretary) of the USAFA Endowment. Finally, Bill also
has served as the Chairman of our 68 Class Gift Committee, which
(to date) has raised almost $750,000 in support of the Academys
Cyber Competition Team.
"After
35 years with Holland & Hart, I retired in 2013. During that time,
I saw the firm grow from 55 lawyers with two offices in Colorado to
500+ lawyers with 16 offices in eight states and the District of Columbia.
Throughout this period, I was especially fortunate to have an abundance
of challenging work for terrific clients and to practice with (and
sometimes against) some of the most talented lawyers imaginable. Although
I enjoyed every minute, I realized that it was nearing time to fade
away, when it became necessary to wear a name tag with my office
location to our annual partnership meetings. After a three-month trial
in Miami in 2006, I determined to ratchet back and transferred from
our Denver office to our Colorado Springs office, where I was better
able to manage the types of cases that I accepted. Finally, in June
2013, I received a favorable verdict in the first of the now-newsworthy
talcum powder cases, and, at that point, decided it's now or
never. I decided on now and haven't looked back.
While I continue to serve on the Boards of various non-profits, my
principal enjoyment is just being around family and friends, both
at our summer home in Colorado Springs and at our winter home in Georgia.
I am blessed in life and doubly so to count myself among the members
of the USAFA Class of 68.
Bill and
Diana are in the process of changing their winter home from St. Simons
Island to Athens, Georgia.