William R. "Bill" Garchow
- Senior Counsel
I believe the best legal advice begins with understanding how a financial institution operates, including its business objectives, regulatory responsibilities and day-to-day challenges. Having worked in private practice and as in-house counsel, I bring both perspectives to my work. My goal is to provide responsive, practical guidance that helps clients manage risk, solve problems and move forward with confidence.
William R. “Bill” Garchow is a financial institutions and real estate attorney with more than 25 years of experience advising banks, businesses and other organizations. He counsels clients on commercial lending, bank operations, regulatory and compliance matters, real estate, corporate law, contracts, loan workouts, creditors’ rights and fiduciary matters.
Bill brings a valuable in-house perspective to his practice. Before joining Warner, he served as senior counsel at Huntington National Bank, where he provided legal support for private banking, preferred banking, institutional trust and investment management. His work included letters of credit, commercial lending, fiduciary matters, management of fiduciary litigation, regulatory and licensing issues, marketing review, policy development and responses to customer complaints.
Bill previously served as senior legal counsel for Chemical Bank and TCF National Bank. In that role, he drafted and reviewed commercial loan documents, advised on loan workouts and troubled credits, negotiated contracts and leases and handled real estate and corporate matters. He also counseled banking personnel on deposit accounts, fiduciary documents, interest rate swaps, letters of credit and compliance issues. In addition, he assisted with contract and policy integration following mergers and acquisitions.
Earlier in his career, Bill spent nearly 15 years in private practice, representing financial institutions, businesses, nonprofit organizations and universities. His work included real estate transactions, commercial lending, corporate matters, contracts, business transactions, bankruptcy, foreclosures, loan workouts and creditors’ rights. Having advised financial institutions from both sides of the attorney-client relationship, Bill understands the needs of bank leaders and in-house legal teams. He provides guidance that is clear, commercially practical and responsive to each organization’s operations and objectives.
