William Walter Fick

William Fick brings clarity, rigor, and compassion to every case – and he thrives in situations where the path forward isn’t easy or obvious. Bill combines elite training with unshakable judgment to defend people in legal jeopardy and hold our most powerful institutions accountable.

A former Assistant Federal Public Defender for a decade, Bill was co-counsel for the defense in two of Boston’s most high-profile criminal trials: United States v. Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombing case, and United States v. O’Brien, the federal RICO prosecution of so-called “patronage” hiring in the Massachusetts Probation Department. In both, his advocacy helped navigate extraordinary legal and public pressure while keeping constitutional principles and client goals front and center.

Since co-founding Fick & Marx in 2016, Bill continues to represent clients facing significant charges, complex legal questions, and profound personal risk. He has also developed a broad civil litigation practice, representing clients including victims of civil rights violations, universities, non-profit organizations, and companies in a variety of industries.

● A Chinese-American engineer was accused of stealing trade secrets--microchip designs--from his former employer. Federal prosecutors charged him with 21 felonies, and he faced the potential of decades in prison, denaturalization, and millions in financial penalties. Bill and his partner, Dan Marx, exposed the racial bias inherent in the investigation and prosecution of their client as well as fundamental misunderstanding of relevant technology underlying the charges. The jury acquitted on 18 counts, the judge granted motions to dismiss and acquit on two others, and the client avoided the most draconian consequences of prosecution while preserving his United States citizenship.

● A major university was sued by a former researcher for defamation. Bill successfully moved to dismiss the case in the trial court and then secured affirmation of the judgment in the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

● A young client faced more than a dozen counts for sending threatening letters – some laced with white powder – to political leaders. Sentencing guidelines called for five years in prison. Bill showed that his client, who was cognitively impaired and profoundly autistic, could face extraordinary harm in prison and secured probation instead. The Boston Globe said it was an “unexpected outcome” from a federal “judge known for handing down tough sentences.”

● Together with colleagues Dan Marx and Amy Barsky, Bill filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of a mother whose son – diagnosed with schizophrenia – was shot and killed by police after she called 911 asking for help transporting him to the hospital. Fick & Marx secured a $4.7 million settlement, and in the aftermath the police department has invested more resources in alternative response programs for people experiencing mental health crises.

Bill has tried numerous federal cases to verdict and won acquittals or dismissals in matters involving fraud, regulatory crimes (e.g., Food Drug & Cosmetics Act and Lacey Act), computer crimes, firearms, narcotics, immigration, bank robbery, child exploitation, and sex offender civil commitment. Bill also has negotiated favorable dispositions and fought for fair sentences on behalf of clients who elected to plead guilty or were convicted at trial. He has briefed and argued criminal and civil appeals, many on novel legal issues, in federal and state courts across the country.

Prior to working for the Federal Public Defender, Bill practiced at Foley Hoag LLP, where he handled civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and appellate matters, as well as an active pro bono docket. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nancy Gertner, U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, who is now retired from the bench and of counsel to Fick & Marx.

Bill earned both his B.A. and J.D. from Yale University. At the conclusion of his undergraduate studies, he received a Charles P. Howland Fellowship and was awarded the Von Staden Cup, conferred on the student who “most consistently challenged the social and intellectual conscience of the college.” In law school, he served as a Coker teaching fellow and was awarded the Francis Wayland Prize for for his work on a team of students that successfully brought and tried a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of a prisoner who had been raped.

For much of the 1990s, Bill lived in Moscow and worked to expand Internet access across the former Soviet Union. He speaks fluent Russian and leads the firm’s representation of Russian-speaking clients.

He serves on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Federal Criminal Justice Act Panel for the District of Massachusetts.