Edward Bennett Williams

Common card · No. 371740

Edward Bennett Williams (May 31, 1920 – August 13, 1988) was an American trial lawyer, sports executive, and political insider. During his career, he was one of the most prominent defense attorneys in the country, famous for his celebrity clientele and for winning prominent criminal cases which appeared hopeless. After graduating first in his class from the College of the Holy Cross and Georgetown University Law School, Williams began his career as a trial lawyer for the law firm of Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C., beginning in 1944. He established his own criminal law practice in 1949 and soon rose to prominence for his representation of mobsters, labor unionists, and public officials. During the 1950s and 1960s, he served as defense counsel to U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy and Hollywood producers, and won acquittals for union leader Jimmy Hoffa, congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and U.S. treasury secretary John Connally in bribery and tax evasion cases. During trials, Williams...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Marion S. Trikosko, U.S. News & World Report Magazine, Public domain