William W. Vaughn, a highly respected and honored attorney who practiced more than 40 years with the Los Angeles law firm O’Melveny and Myers, died on Saturday, January 3. He was 78. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, Bill served on its board of regents from 1991 through 1995. He was a member of the Advisory Group of the U.S. District Court, the Los Angeles Area Alternate Dispute Resolution Panel and the Center for Public Resources. A former chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Committee on Professionalism and Court Improvements, Bill also served on LACBA’s board of trustees, the board of directors of LACBA’s Foundation and the board of governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. He co-chaired the ABA’s Litigation Section Committees on First Amendment and media litigation. During an illustrious career of leading complex litigation cases, Bill gained diverse experience in many fields. He was lead counsel in the successful defense for the Smothers Brothers and Dan Rather. He was lead counsel for a large French electronics company and successfully concluded international arbitration concerning government procurement of complicated electronic devices. He also successfully defended IBM in an antitrust case in the Northern District of California. In 1991, Bill received the Learned Hand Award from the American Jewish Committee for Outstanding Professional Achievement. He wrote for the UCLA Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif in 1955. He completed his undergraduate studies at Stanford University. Bill was born on August 29, 1930 in Los Angeles, and attended University High School. In 1962, he fell in love with and married Claire Willison, a recently widowed mother of three young children. They added three more children to the family and moved to Pacific Palisades in 1970. Bill coached youth baseball games, loved watching Dodgers and Lakers games and took his boys to what would become the first Super Bowl game. Bill was predeceased by his oldest son, Bobby, but is survived by his wife, Claire; sons Gregory, Tony and Jimmy; daughters Liz and Christy; nine grandchildren; and his brother Dennis Vaughn and wife Linda. Services will be held at St. Martin of Tours Church in Brentwood on Friday, January 9 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Southern California Chapter, 2440 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Ste. 115, Los Angeles, CA 90064.
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