Our Attorneys
Williams Cummings
Managing Partner
Biography
Williams Cummings founded the firm in 2011 after two decades advising privately held companies and the families that own them. His practice centers on corporate and commercial matters and the estate and succession structures that keep a family's business, assets, and intentions aligned.
He has negotiated acquisitions, built governance arrangements, and counseled boards through decisions where the paperwork mattered less than the judgment behind it. Clients describe him as the counsel you call before, not after, the deal gets complicated.
- Education
- J.D., Columbia Law School; B.A., University of Virginia
- Bar Admissions
- New York
- Memberships
- New York State Bar Association; American Bar Association, Business Law Section
Practice Areas
Professional Background
A considered practice.
Before founding Williams Cummings, Mr. Cummings spent twelve years in the corporate department of a mid-size New York firm, where he led transactions and advised owner-operators of closely held companies. He left to build the kind of practice he believed clients were not getting: small enough that the partner who takes the call is the partner who does the work.
Since 2011 he has advised founders, families, and established companies across retail, logistics, professional services, and technology. He is regularly the outside general counsel clients turn to when a matter is too consequential, or too delicate, for a template.
Representative Experience
Work with a purpose.
- Advised owners on the sale of a family-held distribution business, including structuring, negotiation, and transition planning carried out over eighteen months.
- Structured a succession plan for the founder of an engineering firm, coordinating equity transfer, governance, and estate documents in a single coherent arrangement.
- Negotiated commercial agreements, joint ventures, and acquisition transactions for clients across retail, logistics, and professional services.
- Counsels boards and executive teams on governance, ownership disputes, and decisions posing financial and reputational risk.
Approach
How Williams works.
Mr. Cummings begins with the business behind the matter. He wants to understand what the client owns, what they are trying to do, and what they are unwilling to risk, and he gives advice in language that assumes the client is a businessperson, not a lawyer.
He keeps matters moving. His clients rarely wait for callbacks, and his files rarely gather dust; work is done thoroughly and on schedule, and clients hear about risks early, in plain words.