William DeStefano
Attorney
William DeStefano is a trial lawyer admitted to practice before the federal and state courts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. During his 50+ years as a lawyer, he has tried more than 200 jury trials to verdicts, primarily in the federal courts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Bill began his career as a trial lawyer for the United States Department of Justice and as an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He entered private practice in the late 1970s by joining a major Philadelphia-based law firm where he defended major international corporations and their corporate officers in criminal and civil regulatory investigations and litigation. In the early 1980s, he founded a small litigation firm in Philadelphia, where he was followed by two major corporate clients with litigation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He became a member of the New Jersey Bar in 1984 and continued to represent these and other corporate clients in numerous commercial litigation cases in both jurisdictions. In addition, he became a member of the Felony Defense Panel for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he defended numerous indigent defendants charged with various federal crimes for the following 25 years. At his small litigation firm, he also represented many individual clients in personal injury and medical malpractice cases. Over the ensuing years, he has tried dozens of criminal and civil cases and became an experienced and distinguished trial attorney.
In the late 1990s, Bill returned to a major Philadelphia-based regional law firm with offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia. He shortly became the Vice Chair of the firm’s Litigation Department, and the Chair of the firm’s White Collar and Antitrust Practice Groups as well as the firm’s Contingent Fee Committee. He also maintained an active trial practice, and over the last 25 years, he represented corporate and individual clients in several high-profile criminal and civil investigations and cases and class actions in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware Courts, obtaining several well-publicized not-guilty verdicts following criminal jury trials.
Throughout the last 25 years, Bill has maintained an AV- Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell and has been consistently named a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” and one of the “Best Lawyers in America” by these peer review services. He is also listed in the Chambers U.S.A. Directory of Preeminent Lawyers in the White Collar Defense and Government Regulatory areas.
Bill and his wife Margaret are long-time residents of Radnor, PA and Ocean City, NJ, where they are frequently visited by four adult children and six grandchildren. Bill is a lifelong runner and, until recently, has competed in local competitive races, including the annual Broad Street Run and the Ocean City annual Beach and Boardwalk 5K and 10K races. He also continues to regularly train as a master in kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
Areas of Practice
- White Collar Criminal Defense
- Antitrust Litigation
- Criminal and Civil Regulatory Investigations and Litigation
- Commercial Litigation
- Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice
- Class Actions
Bar Admissions
- New Jersey Bar
- Pennsylvania Bar
- US Federal Court
Education
- Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania
- B.S. – 1968
- Major: Economics
- Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- J.D. – 1971