William J. Olson is an attorney with the law firm of William J. Olson, P.C., which has offices in Vienna and Winchester, Virginia. He has been in the private practice of law in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area for over 46 years. His practice includes constitutional, nonprofit, health, firearms, election, FOIA, and administrative, law. Mr. Olson holds a J.D. degree from the University of Richmond, and an A.B. degree in Political Science and Economics from Brown University. He also attended the summer Institute for Comparative Legal and Economic Systems at Georgetown University.

He is a member of the bars of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia, and admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court (filing 180 briefs and other pleadings in that Court), the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 11th and D.C. Circuits, the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia, Eastern District of Virginia, Western District of Virginia, Maryland (inactive), the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals. He has filed 277 amicus briefs in federal and state courts. He has been listed in Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World.

Mr. Olson was a Congressional Intern during college and White House Intern after college during the Nixon Administration, followed by positions at the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Office of Economic Opportunity, and a Gubernatorial and a House Campaign. He served in the Office of President-Elect Reagan as head of the Transition Team for the Legal Services Corporation (“LSC”). He was appointed by President Reagan as a member and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the national LSC. He also served as a liaison member of the Administrative Conference of the U.S. He served on the President’s Export Council’s Subcommittee on Export Administration focusing on export of dual use technology to the Soviet Union. He served for three years as Special Counsel (for Labor and Employee Relations) to the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service. He has served as Chairman of the Fairfax County (Virginia) Republican Party, and a member of the State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Since its founding in 1993, Mr. Olson has served as legal co-counsel of the Free Speech Coalition, defending the speech, advocacy, and associational rights of nonprofit organizations against excessive government regulation. He has served as legal co-counsel to the Free Speech Defense and Education Fund since its formation in 1995. He is General Counsel to Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund since it was founded in 1982. He was a founding director and officer of Victims Assistance Legal Organization (VALOR) since 1979. He also serves as outside legal counsel to Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Citizens United, Citizens United Foundation, and America’s Future.

He is the author of legal and public policy studies published by entities such as the American Enterprise Institute, CATO Institute, Crew & Kleindorfer, Gun Owners Foundation, and articles in publications such as The Federalist Society Journal, American Thinker, Western Journal and USA Today. He has testified before Committees of the U.S. House and Senate, the Federal Election Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service on a variety of occasions. He has also been a guest on radio and television shows such as the Jim Lehrer Newshour, the Larry King Show, the Art Bell Show, CNN’s Crossfire, Fox’s O’Reilly Factor, NET’s Endangered Liberties, Conservative Roundtable, and the Glenn Beck Television Show.
Mr. Olson lives in Frederick County, Virginia with his wife Janet, who was former Executive Director of the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Conference. The Olsons have two grown children and six grandchildren.