William Estes

Of Counsel

New York

Tel 646.346.8033
Fax 212.223.1942

Bill Estes focuses on large-scale alternative project delivery, including design-build and public-private partnerships (P3/PPP), and counsels on all stages of infrastructure development and construction. He brings to every engagement his insight gained as chief counsel to two project owners.

During more than 20 years of experience in both the public and private sectors, Bill has worked on transactional, litigation, legislative, and policy matters for alternative project delivery and conventional infrastructure projects in the transportation, social infrastructure, renewable energy, broadband/telecommunications, and water/wastewater sectors. His clients include public entities/owners, private concessionaires/contractors, and financing parties in the procurement, negotiation, financing, and administration of P3 and infrastructure projects.

Before joining Ballard Spahr, Bill served as Vice President and General Counsel of the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA), which builds and renovates the 1,800 schools in the nation’s largest school district. As the authority’s chief legal officer, he counseled executive management on all legal aspects of delivering the Authority’s $19 billion, five-year capital plan, including advising on procurement, contracts, litigation, regulatory, environmental, insurance, labor, legislative, governance, MWBE, and other commercial matters.

Bill also served as General Counsel and Secretary of the New York State Thruway Authority and Canal Corporation from 2009 to 2015, one of the nation’s longest tolled highways, which at the time also operated and maintained a 500 mile-long navigable waterway. He advised on the Authority’s procurement of the $3.1 billion contract to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, the State’s first design-build project, which was financed through a record-setting $1.6 billion federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan. He also counseled on matters involving food and fuel concessionaires, a P3 fiber-optic contract, and renewable energy generation.

Bill served for over two years in the New York State Governor’s Counsel’s Office, where he worked regularly with the legal and executive staff of the State’s infrastructure agencies and authorities in carrying out the policy programs of the administrations of two governors. Bill has also worked in a boutique infrastructure firm, where he advised state and local governments and private utilities and contractors on the procurement, construction, and financing of transportation, water/wastewater, and public building infrastructure.

Earlier in this career, Bill worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, during which time he was cross-designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney (E.D.N.Y.). He began his career in the New York State Attorney General’s Office (Investor Protection Unit).

Services

Experience

Representative Matters

Represented the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in connection with the Major Bridges P3 Initiative for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of nine major bridges through a pre-development agreement / DBFM.
Counsel to Stony Brook University in connection with its DBFOM proposal for a climate solutions center on Governors Island in the New York City harbor.
Represented an advisory team in connection with a DBFOM TransitGrid Microgrid procurement for a resiliency project.

Professional Highlights

Pro Bono Experience

As part of his pro bono practice, Bill has provided corporate legal advice to a not-for-profit supporting members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Professional Activities

Member, Committee on Contract Law, The Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine, 2016-2018

Member, Transportation and Construction Law Committees, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 2016-2018

Recognition & Accomplishments

New York Law Journal 2014 Outstanding Legal Department Award, New York Thruway Authority and Canal Corporation

Speaking Engagements

Panelist, “Multiple Benefits and Risks – Legal Issues Within a Design Build Process,” Professional Women in Construction, Professional Development and Advisory Council Presentation (NYC), 2022

Speaker, “Licensing, Commercialization and Technology Transfer (T2) of Transportation Innovations,” Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) 56th Annual Workshop on Transportation Law, 2017

Speaker, “Renewable Energy Infrastructure Issues for Counties,” 2017 Annual Meeting of the County Attorneys’ Association of the State of New York (CAASNY)

Related Insights

Credentials

Education

Emory University School of Law (J.D. 1997)

Northwestern University (B.A. 1993)

Admissions

Connecticut

New Jersey

New York

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern District of New York