Overview
Bill has broad experience with governmental entities, school boards, business associations and companies in many different industries. He has served as general counsel to a statewide professional organization of dentists and to a regional passenger rail district. Bill counsels school and education-based clients on a wide variety of matters and has served as the primary lawyer for both a major school district and a major community college for more than 10 years.
For more than 50 years, Bill has helped clients work with all areas of city and county government regarding a wide variety of municipal corporation and zoning matters. He is highly experienced in the organization, governance, financing and acquisition of all types of corporate, partnership and nonprofit entities. Bill has represented municipal authorities in the issuance of bonds and other debt. He has assisted clients in the development of new telecommunications networks and services, involving extensive regulatory and statutory concerns. Bill has also represented numerous clients involved in major commercial and residential real estate projects in matters ranging from providing financing and obtaining approvals all the way to acquisition construction and sales.
Experience
In more than five decades of law practice, Bill has acquired a wealth of experience which includes:
- Serving as general counsel for two major professional and trade associations involved with political activities including legislative representation, state and federal regulation, nonprofit corporate organizations, for-profit subsidiaries and general board of directors and employment issues.
- Forming a regional passenger rail district and serving as its general counsel.
- Representing an entity consisting of all governmental units in Travis County, Texas, in development, installation and operation of a fiber-optic communication system involving governmental facilities within the county, one of the first such systems installed in the country.
- Representing a telecommunications provider regarding the installation of a wide-area fiber-optics network to connect schools and governmental buildings throughout a North Texas city.
- Representing an owner and developer in the acquisition, construction and leasing of major downtown office and hotel developments in Austin, Texas.
- Representing a major urban school district in a desegregation trial lasting more than ten years. Ultimately, the settlement reached was one of the first major case settlements in the U.S. that allowed the school board to retain local control.
- Representing several rapidly growing school districts in property acquisition, contracting, construction and the opening of numerous schools and related facilities.
- Representing school districts in contracting for and installing wide-area fiber-optics networks to connect all schools and related facilities.
- Serving as principal lawyer for several major banking institutions, and representing clients in the areas of lending, real estate financing, collections and bankruptcy.
- Representing a client in the development and operation of a major restaurant chain.
- Serving as city attorney for a Texas municipality handling major commercial and residential development, acquisition of a water system, governmental financing and litigation.
Honors & Recognition
- Listed in Bond Buyer’s “Red Book” as a nationally recognized bond attorney
Community & Professional
- State Bar of Texas: School Law Section (President, 1982-83)
- Texas Association of Bank Counsel (Director, 1981-84)
- Austin Symphony (Board of Directors, Legal Counsel, Executive Committee)
- Austin/San Antonio Corridor Council (Board of Directors, Executive Committee)
Practice Areas
Education
St. Mary’s University School of Law, J.D., 1970 (Research Editor, St. Mary’s Law Journal; Phi Delta Phi, Magister)
The University of Texas and Stephen F. Austin State University, B.A., 1967
Briefing Attorney: Supreme Court of Texas (1970-71)
Bar admissions
- Texas
Court admissions
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- United States Courts of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- United States District Courts for the Western, Southern, and Northern Districts of Texas