William Spence

William A. Spence is a senior counsel at the firm and is Chairman of the China Practice Group. He received a B.A. from Northwestern University, and a J.D. from Loyola University. Prior to joining the firm he was a law clerk to the Honorable Robert E. English, on the Illinois Appellate Court and he served for eight years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois where he won 29 of 31 cases, 22 of which were before juries. His practice is concentrated in areas of civil litigation, international arbitration, and the firm’s relationship with China. He has been traveling to China since 1987, lived in Shanghai with his family in 1994 while he taught law at the East China Law School, and currently represents some of China's largest corporations in litigation and arbitration matters. He recently completed an arbitration in Hong Kong and two large litigated matters in the United States District Court in Houston on behalf of a large Chinese state owned enterprise. He also represents U.S. companies doing business in China. He has lectured several Chinese government agencies about various aspects of American law. Between 1995 and 1998, he was one of two foreign advisors to the State Pharmaceutical Administration of China and in 1998 was appointed counsel to the Dalian High Tech Industrial Zone. Bill was appointed co-chairman of the Sister Cities China Committee by Mayor Daley in 1997 and has led several business delegations on more than 35 trips to China. Mr. Spence and his firm have assisted in the training of Chinese lawyers through their participation in the China International Lawyers Training Center in association with the East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai. Mr. Spence was a founder of the China Roundtable within the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, American Bar Association and serves as a member of the Board of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago and is Co-Chairman of the Freeborn & Peters Pro Bono Committee. Mr. Spence has given numerous presentations of legal issues related to China and has spoken at the World Economic Forum China Summit in Beijing on “Rule of Law” related issues and at the Aspen Institute seminar on Globalization and Asian Values. Mr. Spence is a founding member of the board and president pro tem of the Chicago China Economic Development Center, a member of the Chinatown Museum Advisory Board, the Chinese American Service League Advisory Board, the Xilin Association Advisory Board and was a member of the study group which produced The Global Edge: An Agenda For Chicago’s Future. He is the author of a Practitioners View of Chinese Legal Developments, Loyola University Chicago International Law Review Volume 3, Issue 2 (Spring/Summer 2006) 157-164.