October 28, 2025 – Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is pleased to announce that Douglas D. Orvis II, a distinguished telecom and technology lawyer with deep expertise in navigating the global regulation of emerging technologies, has joined the firm as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office.
Orvis brings to the firm three decades of experience representing communications carriers, technology companies, and new market entrants on regulatory, enforcement, policy, and commercial matters. He most recently served for five years as senior associate general counsel at Meta, advising on telecom and technology issues globally. His prior roles include serving as in-house regulatory counsel at Tata Communications and as a partner in the communications practice at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
"Doug's regulatory and transactional expertise on both domestic and international matters is first-rate and will significantly deepen our bench," said K.C. Halm, co-chair of the technology, communications, and privacy & security practice at DWT. "His arrival adds significant depth to our integrated technology and communications team on the East Coast, advancing one of the firm's important strategic goals."
"Doug's rock-solid substantive skills, collaborative approach, and entrepreneurial spirit align well with our culture and long-term plans for growth," said Chip English, the firm's Washington, D.C., partner-in-charge. "We're delighted to welcome him."
"DWT's integrated tech and communications group is well-respected across the industry," said Orvis. "They do some of the most interesting and important work in this space and I'm very pleased to be able to join them for this next phase of my career."
As a regulatory subject matter expert at Meta, Orvis counseled business teams and product counsel on risks associated with new features and products globally and worked extensively on the company's relationships with telecommunications providers. He also responded to government inquiries and coordinated the legal review of responses to ongoing rulemakings throughout the Americas. At Tata, his remit included serving as the primary U.S. regulatory lawyer for FCC-related compliance matters.
While in-house and in private practice, Orvis worked on a wide range of network and data center deployment issues, including those related to telecommunications infrastructure, colocation, interconnection agreements, and regulatory compliance.
"Doug's experience will further strengthen our multi-disciplinary data center team and help us respond to this area of high demand from clients," said Halm.
Orvis received his bachelor's degree from Indiana University at Bloomington and his J.D. at UC Hastings (now University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco).
About Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an AmLaw 100 law firm with more than 600 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. Learn more at www.dwt.com.