William E. Ridgway is a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Mr. Ridgway is a former federal prosecutor and experienced trial and appellate lawyer whose practice focuses on cybersecurity and data privacy matters, white collar crime and intellectual property litigation.

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Ridgway was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where he served as the Deputy Chief of the National Security and Cybercrimes Section. In this role, he oversaw and managed all of the office’s cybercrime, data breach and intellectual property cases. Mr. Ridgway also held the positions of National Security Cyber Specialist and Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Mr. Ridgway has received numerous awards and recognition throughout his career, including the Director’s Award for Superior Performance from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys for prosecuting an international racketeering enterprise (2015) and the Chicago Crime Commission’s Stars of Distinction Award for the prosecution of criminal enterprises operating in Chicago (2009 and 2010). He also was selected as a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow in its 2017 class.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Ridgway served as a law clerk for Hon. Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and then for Hon. Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.