Attorney Biography for Dow, William F. III

William F. Dow, III

William F. Dow, III was born in New Haven in 1941 and grew up in Stony Creek. He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. degree in 1963. Between 1963 and 1965, Mr. Dow was a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia and became fluent in Spanish. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School, graduating in 1968. Between 1970 and 1974, Mr. Dow was with the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia. He was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 1974 to 1976.

For twenty-five years, Mr. Dow has been a lecturer in trial practice at Yale Law School. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has been appointed by the Governor to the Judicial Selection Commission and is a member of the Connecticut Judicial Branch Criminal Division Task Force. He has served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Section for the Administration of Criminal Justice of the Connecticut Bar Association and President of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He served on the Drafting Committee of the Evidence Code adopted by the Judges of the Superior Court. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Federal Practice Section of the Connecticut Bar Association.

Mr. Dow is included in The Best Lawyers in America in connection with criminal defense representation. In 2006, Connecticut Magazine named him a Super Lawyer and one of the top three attorneys in the state.

Mr. Dow is heavily involved in white collar criminal defense and the trial and appeal of cases in both state and federal courts, involving homicide and other crimes of violence, drug offenses, and theft. He has defended both individuals and companies in criminal prosecutions. He also has argued numerous appeals in the Connecticut Supreme and Appellate Courts and the federal courts of appeals in New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. Mr. Dow has extensive experience in both state and federal courts.

Most recently he represented the Governor of Connecticut in connection with impeachment proceedings as well as in a federal criminal investigation. Mr. Dow also represents members of the legal and medical professions in connection with grievance and licensing proceedings.

He presently serves on the Executive Committee of the Federal Practice Section of the CBA and was appointed by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court to chair a Committee on Appointment of the District's Federal Public Defender.