James L Williams

Position
Partner
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An AV® Preeminent™ Rated Texas Civil Attorney, Mr. Williams received his education from Washington and Lee University (B.A., Economics and B.A., American History [double major], 1985, Cum Laude) and Texas Tech University (J.D., 1988). He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1989 and is licensed by the Texas Supreme Court to practice in all courts of the state of Texas. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, the U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. He has also been admitted pro hac vice in numerous other courts throughout the United States including courts in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Alabama, the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas and the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas. He is a Shareholder of the firm.

Legal Experience and Areas of Practice

Mr. Williams possesses extensive experience in civil litigation and transactional work, including employment law defense and business representation, insurance defense, workers’ compensation defense, construction law, collections practice, nonsubscriber defense and commercial litigation, having long concentrated his practice representing businesses and insurance companies. He is experienced in a variety of commercial litigation and warranty defense cases. He has handled hundreds of insurance defense cases and other civil cases in litigation. He has provided representation, both on a 1st and 3rd party basis, for insurance companies and their insureds in litigation such as products and premises liability actions, automobile accident cases, trucking accident cases, wrongful death cases, subrogation cases, D.T.P.A claims and in defense of workers’ compensation claims. He has substantial trial and appellate experience in a variety of cases and has handled hundreds of administrative hearings before the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission (now the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation). He also has substantial mediation and arbitration experience. From 1990 to 1994 he served as Associate Counsel in the Staff Counsel offices of the Travelers Insurance Company in Dallas. He is also a former Assistant City Attorney for the City of Dallas and former prosecutor.

Professional Organizations

Present State Bar of Texas
Present DFW Council of Safety Professionals
Present Tarrant County Bar Association
Present Defense Research Institute
Present Texas Association of Defense Counsel
Present Transportation Lawyers Association (TLA)
Present Associate Member Risk And Insurance Management Society, Inc. (RIMS)
Present Insurance Law Section, State Bar of Texas
Present Subrogation Association of North Texas
Present Workers’ Compensation Section, State Bar of Texas
Present The Honorable Order of the Blue Goose, International Insurance Professionals Organization, Texas Chapter
Present The National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP)
Present The Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM Alliance)
1994-1999 Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association
1991 Dallas Bar Association
1985-1988 Delta Theta Phi Legal Fraternity

Honors

Awarded the AV® Preeminent™ Rating by Martindale-Hubbell®, the country’s leading legal directory for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. In 2015, he achieved the highest possible rating (5.0 out of 5.0). The rating was awarded to less than five percent of all attorneys across the United States. This designation is a widely respected mark of achievement; it differentiates an attorney from his or her competition. The Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ are an objective indicator of an attorney’s high ethical standards and professional ability, generated from evaluations of attorneys by other members of the bar and the judiciary. The AV® Preeminent™ Rating is the highest possible rating given by LexisNexis Martindale, and is established on a peer-review basis. It signifies that Mr. Williams has been rated as having the best possible scores for legal abilities and ethical standards. It is a nationally-recognized acknowledgment of an attorney’s accomplishments and skills, and is known to position him or her among the elite practitioners in the country.

Mr. Williams has been awarded the highest possible Judicial Ranking by the Judiciary in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 and has been awarded the the Judicial AV® Preeminent™ Plaque by American Registry and Martindale-Hubbell.

Mr. Williams has been voted by his peers and awarded the Top Attorney Rating by Fort Worth, Texas Magazine in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. He is also listed as one of Tarrant County’s Top Lawyers in Fort Worth, Texas Magazine, 2002, Insurance Defense category.

He was also awarded a  “Superb” Rating by AVVO (a perfect score of 10.0 out of 10.0) for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 , 2020 and 2021, a Top Attorney rating calculated using a mathematical model that evaluates relevant data in an attorney’s profile, including experience, disciplinary history, professional achievements, client reviews, peer reviews and industry recognition .The rating system periodically collects background data from multiple sources, including state bar associations, court records, lawyer websites, and other information, and is considered a premier consumer dedicated attorney rating system.

Mr. Williams is also a Member of the prestigious Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM Alliance), an alliance comprised of insurance companies, corporations, Corporate Counsel, Litigation and Risk Managers, claims professionals and insurance defense attorneys. Through education and collaboration, the organization’s goals are to create a common interest in the representation by firms of companies, and to promote and further the highest standards of litigation management in pursuit of client defense. Selected attorneys and law firms are extended membership by invitation only based on nominations from CLM Fellows.

Additionally, American Registry LLC, has named James L. Williams to The Registry™ of Business and Professional Excellence.

Mr. Williams was selected by ALM to be included in the 2017 and 2018 Annual section of Texas’s Top Rated Lawyers in The Texas Lawyer. He was also invited to be included in the 2016 publication of Legal Leaders: Insurance Law in The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal and Corporate Counsel.

He was selected to be included in U.S. News Lawyer Directory Best Lawyers in 2018.

He was selected as a 2019 Top Rated Litigator for inclusion in Corporate Counsel & The American Lawyer magazines.

Williams, McClure & Parmelee has been selected in 2018 as one of the “10 Best Law Firms for Texas” by The American Institute of Legal Counsel (AIOLC) for workers’ comp litigation defense which recognizes excellence of practitioners in their practice areas. This is a significant achievement as each firm must be formally nominated by the Institute, clients, and/or fellow attorneys, have attained the highest degree of professional achievement and have an impeccable Client Satisfaction Rating, with client satisfaction being of paramount importance.

Newsweek.com selected the firm for inclusion in  Premier Law Firms 2019.

The firm has also been selected by Expertise.com as among the Top 17 Litigation Attorneys serving Fort Worth, Texas in 2018.  Expertise.com scored litigation attorneys on more than 25 variables across five categories, including reputation, credibility, experience, availability and professionalism and analyzed the results to give a hand-picked list of the best litigation attorneys in Fort Worth, Texas.

Each year The American Registry reviews industry data and recognition criteria throughout the world to identify and award the “Best of the Best”. Mr Williams has been selected as within the TOP 1%, attaining the “America’s Most Honored Professionals” Recognition for 2018.

 

Expert Witness Retention

Mr. Williams has been hired as an expert witness in Texas Workers’ Compensation and Insurance law. He has also been hired as an expert witness in connection with work related injury billing and compensation practices under Texas law.

Appointments

Mr. Williams serves as a Special Commissioner, appointed by the Tarrant County courts, to hear condemnation cases in Tarrant County. He has served in condemnation matters involving such governmental entities as the State of Texas, the City of Fort Worth and the City of Colleyville.

Authored Documents and Course Instruction

Mr. Williams is the author of Adjudication of Workers Compensation Claims in District Court (2000), Recent Appeals Panel and Case Law Update (2000) and Non-Subscriber Issues and Update (2000) and was a featured speaker at the Workers Compensation in Texas Seminar, Lorman Education Services (2000). He is also the author of Defenses to Workers Compensation Claims (2001) and was a featured speaker at the Introduction to Workers Compensation Seminar, Lorman Education Services (2001). He has presented various seminars to insurance adjusters regarding claim investigation and evaluation, including such presentations as “Automobile Accidents and the Claims Adjuster,” “Mediation Strategies for Insurance Claims,” “The Role of Defense Counsel in Defending Negligence Claims” and “Evaluating Personal Injury Damages.”  He is co-author of “Supplemental Income Benefits Based on Ratable Impairment” in the Spring 1997 edition of “The Examiner.” He is also author of Claims Investigations and the Witness Statement (1995) and Do’s and Don’ts of Depositions (1994).

 

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

― Winston Churchill

 

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

— Philippians 4:13

Ft Worth Magazine Best Attorneys Texas LitigationFort Worth Insurance Defense AttorneyTexas Non Subscriber Defense Attorney Martindale AV RatedFort Worth Civil Litigation AttorneyFort Worth Business Litigation AttorneyFt Worth Transportation Law AttorneyAVVO LitigationForth Worth workers compensation AttorneyFort Worth AttorneyDallas Non subscriber Defense Attorney Fort Worth Top Attorney 2015/file-storage1/nemo_live/production/Digital-Plaques/2015-05-12_8 Fort Worth Magazine Top Attorneys 2015_ av-rating-full

 

 

 2017 Ft Worth Top AttorneyJames L Williams Fort Worth Attorney