William was the first attorney “hired” by the firm, starting February 1, 1990, two weeks after the firm was formed. An avid college sports fan, William has incorporated this interest into his daily law practice on an expanding basis. William represents two universities which are members of the Southeastern Conference and Pacific 10 Conference and has advised another institution which belongs to the Big East Conference. He has also represented and consulted with collegiate coaches and administrators in NCAA-compliance matters over the past decade. With the addition of Gene Marsh, former Chair of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, the firm established itself as a national leader in NCAA compliance and collegiate sports law.
In the past decade, William’s practice in the area of NCAA compliance has taken off. William has handled dozens of investigations involving NCAA compliance issues. From 2002 to 2004, he headed an extensive investigation of a university client’s men’s basketball team and represented the university before the NCAA Committee on Infractions, where the university was cleared of the most serious allegations. He also appeared before the Committee on Infractions a second time in December 2007 on behalf of a coach. He has worked extensively and regularly with the NCAA Enforcement Staff on many different issues and has gained the reputation of being honest, thorough and effective in representing his clients. In addition to NCAA compliance work, William also has extensive experience in drafting contracts for head coaches and assistant coaches in revenue sports and regularly provides advice and representation in employment-related issues.
William is a frequent speaker on compliance issues and since 2008 has spoken at the Southeastern Conference annual meeting and on campus at Auburn, West Virginia, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Memphis, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Troy and UAB.
The other primary area of William’s practice is employment law. He has successfully defended employers in employment-related issues in both state and federal courts for the past 18 years. The focus of this work has been defending federal employment discrimination suits and claims in court and before the EEOC. He also has extensive experience in state law employment issues such as retaliatory discharge claims and joint employment issues. Although the vast majority of his practice is defense work, in recent years, he and two other LFW attorneys (Sara Ford and Meade Hartfield) represented an individual client in an employment arbitration where the client received a significant damages award from the arbitrator.
In addition to collegiate sports and employment law, William also handles business, consumer fraud and personal injury matters for an array of clients.
William has been a member of the Alabama Bar since 1989. Prior to joining the firm, he was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Robert S. Vance on the U.S. Court of Apeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He was recently recognized in the 2008 and 2009 editions of Alabama Superlawyers, and for his Employment work in the 2007 "Best of the Bar" edition of the Birmingham Business Journal.
William’s interests outside work are his family and his church. He and his wife have three children, and his family is active in their church. William has served as senior warden at his church twice, teaches a senior high Sunday school class and was a member of his church’s pastor search committee. He and his family are active in local charities for the homeless.
