Attorneys

William C. Morison, managing partner

William C. Morison Managing Partner Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, J.D., 1981; University of California, Santa Cruz, A.B., 1977. Resident Office: California Download vCard

William C. Morison, managing partner. Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, J.D., 1981; University of California, Santa Cruz, A.B., 1977. Resident Office: California

Mr. Morison is a commercial litigator who specializes in complex insurance litigation on behalf of insurers. Mr. Morison's coverage specialties include construction defect, advertising injury, bad faith, environmental, and directors and officers. Mr. Morison previously practiced in San Francisco with Pillsbury Madison & Sutro and with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, before electing to form Morison Holden Derewetzky & Prough LLP. The firm's practice is national in scope, with offices in eight states and cases pending in dozens of different jurisdictions at any given time.

Mr. Morison has conducted in-house seminars for the claims and legal departments of MHDP's clients and has participated in a number of panel discussions on behalf of the insurance industry on emerging coverage issues and developments.

Mr. Morison has previously spoken on the subject of coverage, including at the 1996 Mealey's Emerging Insurance Battles Conference in Phoenix, 1997 Orange County Bar Association's Intellectual Property and Insurance, and 1998 American Conference Institute's Intellectual Property Insurance. Mr. Morison has also published a number of articles on coverage issues.

Mr. Morison has obtained favorable results for insurers on significant coverage issues throughout the country. Among his many victories are Golden Eagle v. Travelers Companies, 103 F.3d 790 (9th Cir. 1996) (no duty to defend where claim based on defective workmanship); Faust v. Travelers Indemnity Company, 55 F.3d 471 (9th Cir. 1995) (no obligation to pay pre-tender defense costs); Advance Watch Co., Ltd. v. Kemper National Ins. Co., 99 F.3d 795 (6th Cir. 1996) (leading case nationwide holding no advertising injury coverage for trademark/trade dress infringement); Fluoroware, Inc. v. Chubb Group of Ins. Cos., 545 N.W.2d 678 (Minn. App. 1996) (no advertising injury coverage for patent infringement).

Mr. Morison is a member of the State Bar of California and its sections on Litigation, Antitrust and Trade Regulation, and Intellectual Property. He served as the chair of the Committee on Administration of Justice during 1991-1992. Mr. Morison is also a member of the State Bar of Nevada.