Philip Ward practices general business law. He advises corporations, partnerships, and entrepreneurs and handles commercial transactions, bankruptcy, real estate (with a particular emphasis on commercial leasing), financings, and compliance with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. He also advises religious organizations and other nonprofits as well as individuals who are entering or leaving federal government service on federal ethics compliance, lobbying disclosure laws and employment agreements. He also represents these individuals before federal ethics agencies.
Mr. Ward has advised and represented a foreign government, a major educational institution, a major healthcare provider, not-for-profit corporations, Roman Catholic religious orders and institutions, and a variety of corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships.
He has represented a variety of privately-held companies in the sale of their businesses, in most cases to public companies; advised persons nominated for positions in the federal government on Ethics in Government Act compliance and related ethics issues; and advised former federal government officials on employment and consulting agreements and establishing post-government service consulting businesses, including compliance with federal ethics and lobbying disclosure laws.
Mr. Ward has also represented the owners of a group of minor league baseball franchises in the sale of those franchises; a major healthcare provider in establishing a physician primary care network; the Baltimore Orioles in the development of Orioles Park at Camden Yards, including negotiating and documenting the initial lease; and a foreign government in a refinancing of its private external debt.
Born in Flushing, New York, Mr. Ward grew up around Los Angeles, California. He received his A.B., with distinction, from Stanford University in 1971, and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was Development and Notes Editor, Harvard Law Review. Mr. Ward was a law clerk to Judge Marvin E. Frankel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, then spent two years as special assistant to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Transportation. He joined Williams & Connolly in 1978. Mr. Ward has served on the Washington Advisory Council of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now known as Human Rights First), the Board of Directors of CARA at Georgetown University, the Board of Governors of the John Carroll Society, and the Board of Directors of Carroll Publishing.