Bill Ragland is among the firm’s most experienced lead litigators and strategic advisors, helping businesses create strategies and solve problems involving intellectual property and other complex business disputes.
With over thirty-five years of experience, Bill has sound judgment, insight and proven skills in resolving, and avoiding, disputes involving assets that are among a business’ most important: its technology and its brand. Clients also trust Bill to resolve a wide variety of complex business disputes of importance in the boardroom. With sharp focus on business goals and the end game, Bill designs, executes and manages all aspects and phases of complex disputes and related strategies. He is the attorney you want to lead your winning team.
Bill’s engagements often involve patents, trademarks, trade dress, trade secrets, licensing, technology development, copyrights, software implementation, performance and system integration, non-competition agreements, internet and e-commerce, false advertising, unfair competition, commercial contracts, corporate governance and shareholder disputes.
His clients include high technology, computer, manufacturing, packaging, consumer products, retail, and energy companies, and financial institutions.
Bill is widely recognized as a leading attorney and strategist. For many years, The Best Lawyers in America has named Bill its “Lawyer of the Year” in numerous categories, including Technology Law, Patent Law, Copyright Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation. Intellectual Asset Management magazine has also named him as one of the top IP strategists and patent professionals in the world, and he is recommended and listed by Chambers USA for Intellectual Property and by Super Lawyers for Business Litigation.
Representative Experience
Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
- Successfully defended one of world’s largest computer companies in patent infringement jury trial involving claims totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Served as lead counsel for leading telecommunications company in successful breach of contract litigation against provider of mission-critical system technology.
- As lead counsel for a leading financial institution, successfully protected the bank’s primary brand in trademark infringement litigation, including defeating opponent’s motion for preliminary injunction.
- Successfully defended large public utility in patent infringement litigation involving coding technology.
- Achieved successful outcome for leading cybersecurity provider in service and contract dispute with its customer.
Civic and Professional Activities
Professional Leadership
- Atlanta Bar Association
- President (2004 – 2005)
- First Vice President (2003 – 2004)
- Second Vice President (2002 – 2003)
- Secretary (2001 – 2002)
- Executive Committee Member (2001 – 2006)
- Board of Directors Member (1999 – 2006)
- Chair, Litigation Section (1998 – 1999)
- Co-Chair, Memorial Fund for families of victims of the March 11, 2005 Fulton County, Georgia Courthouse Shootings (2005 – 2006)
- Co-Chair, Lawyer Referral and Information Service (2002 – 2003)
- Chair (2001 – 2002) and Trustee (1997 – 2001), Continuing Legal Education Board of Trustees
- Chair, Pro Bono Committee
- Co-Chair, Sponsorship Committee
- Member, Community Outreach Committee
- Intellectual Property Section, Co-Founder and Co-Chair (2007 – 2008)
- Atlanta Bar Foundation
- President (2010 – 2012)
- Secretary/Treasurer (2008 – 2010)
- Executive Committee Member (2008 – Present)
- Chair, 25th Fundraising Campaign (2010 – 2013)
- Lifetime Fellow
- State Bar of Georgia
- Board of Governors Member (2007 – Present)
- Next Generation Courts Commission (2011 – 2013)
- Member, Intellectual Property Law Section
- Founding Member, Products Liability Section
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- Federal Defender Program, Past Board Director; Past Bar Council Member
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference, Past Planning Committee Member
- Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Past Board Director (2004 – 2005).
- Old War Horse Lawyers Club
- President (2012 – 2013)
- Board of Governors Member (2009 – Present)
- Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Member
Civic and Community Leadership
- Smithsonian National Board
- Member (2006 – 2015); Executive Committee Member (2009 – 2015); Co-Chair, Smithsonian National Board Alumni and ex officio Member, Executive Committee (2015 – Present)
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
- Commissioner (2012 – Present)
- Atlanta Youth Academies Foundation
- Trustee (2006 – Present); Vice President for Leadership and Governance (2008 – Present)
- Leadership Atlanta, Member of Class of 2007
- Atlanta City Council City Code Review Team, Past Member
Honors and Awards
- Chambers USA Ranked Lawyer, Intellectual Property, Georgia (2003 - Present), Commercial Litigation, Georgia (2004 - 2020)
- Named the Best Lawyers® "Lawyer of the Year" in Technology Law - Atlanta (2015), Copyright Law - Atlanta (2016), Patent Law - Atlanta (2018), Litigation: Mergers & Acquisitions - Atlanta (2017, 2019, 2022), and Trade Secrets Law - Atlanta (2023)
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (BL Rankings), Commercial Litigation (2006 - Present); Technology Law (2010 - Present); Copyright Law, Litigation: Banking & Finance, Litigation: Intellectual Property, Litigation: Mergers & Acquisitions, Litigation: Patent, Patent Law, Trademark Law (2011 - Present); Arbitration (2018 - Present); Advertising Law and Privacy & Data Security Law (2020 - Present)
- Recognized in Georgia Super Lawyers (Thompson Reuters) (2004-2024)
- Named to Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine's Strategy 300 – the World's Leading IP Strategists (2009 - Present) and as a Strategy 300 Global Leader (2021, 2022)
- Named to IAM’s Patent 1000 (Litigation) – the World’s Leading Patent Professionals (2013 - Present)
- Named one of "Georgia's Legal Elite," a listing of the state's "most effective lawyers," for Intellectual Property and Business Litigation, selected by Georgia attorneys and published in Georgia Trend Magazine
- American Bar Foundation, Fellow
- Achieved the highest rating in Martindale-Hubbell peer review service for over 30 years
- Listed, Who's Who in Law and Accounting, Atlanta Business Chronicle (2004, 2005)
- Listed, Guide to Leading U.S. Litigation Lawyers, published by Legal Media Group Expert Guides (2006, 2007)
- Recipient of the IP Community Service Award, awarded by Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and sponsored by State Bar of Georgia and Atlanta Bar Association (2017)
- Recipient of The Leadership Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Atlanta Bar Association (2013). The Leadership Award is given to members "who inspire by their example, challenge by their deeds, and remind us all of our debt to our profession and our community."
- Committee of the Year Award, Atlanta Bar Association, for Lawyer Referral & Information Service (2003) (William M. Ragland, Jr., Co-Chair)
- President's Cup and Award of Merit, State Bar of Georgia, awarded to Atlanta Bar Association for Best Overall Voluntary Bar Association (2005) (William M. Ragland, Jr., President)
