William F Cavanaugh, Jr is a senior litigation partner and served as co-chair of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP from 2007 to 2017. His areas of concentration include antitrust, intellectual property and commercial litigation. Mr Cavanaugh also served in 2009–2010 as deputy assistant attorney general of the United States for civil enforcement in the antitrust division of the Department of Justice.

A skilled trial attorney with extensive experience in both state and federal courts as well as in arbitration, Mr Cavanaugh has served as national and trial counsel in several large multiparty antitrust, fraud and consumer protection litigations in federal and state courts across the US brought by private plaintiffs and state attorneys general. His clients include major pharmaceutical, medical device, food and beverage, and financial services companies.

Recently, Mr Cavanaugh secured summary judgment for a chocolate maker in an antitrust price-fixing case, which was affirmed by the Third Circuit. He also defended a major pharmaceutical company in federal multidistrict class and individual actions, and state class actions, arising from allegedly anticompetitive pricing in the brand name prescription pharmaceutical market. The district court granted summary judgment and the Second Circuit affirmed the decision. He is currently representing financial institutions in antitrust matters involving credit cards, ATM fees and certain financial instruments as well as manufacturers of contact lenses and blood reagents.

Mr Cavanaugh frequently speaks on antitrust topics and writes on antitrust issues. He is a founding contributor to www.antitrustupdateblog.com. Mr Cavanaugh received his JD from St John's University School of Law and his BS, magna cum laude, from St John’s University. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. 

WWL says: "Stand out lawyer" William Cavanaugh is widely endorsed as a "class act litigator" with superb expertise in complex competition law cases.