Insurers, financial institutions, and telecommunications companies value William’s skills as a litigator. William’s practice includes ERISA and non-ERISA litigation in the life, health and disability fields. He has practiced in courts across the nation in a wide variety of complex class action and business litigation matters.
William has developed an extensive pro bono immigration practice, representing refugees, asylum seekers and other clients seeking green cards (permanent legal resident) or United States citizenship.
Experience
He has won summary judgments for numerous defendants in ERISA and non-ERISA life and disability cases.
William obtained a favorable judgment for a defendant in a multi-day arbitration hearing before a three-member AAA arbitration panel. Plaintiff sought damages in excess of $3 million as well as punitive damages, statutory penalties and attorneys’ fees.
William has successfully handled numerous life insurance disputes in both state and federal courts in Kansas and Missouri. Most recently, he obtained summary judgment on behalf of an insurer against a claim for life insurance benefits after the insured failed to report his cancer diagnosis shortly before obtaining supplemental life insurance. Earlier this year, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of an insurer represented by William in a case involving a "crime exclusion" in a life insurance policy.
In a case involving catastrophic damage to hundreds of property owners from an oil refinery flood and spill, William successfully defeated class certification.
Obtained defense verdicts in jury trials in both state and federal courts in Missouri and Kansas.
Recognitions
Recognitions
Selected to the 2024 edition of
Best Lawyers in America©
Named to
Ingram's
2023 Class of 50 Kansans You Should Know
Named "Best of the Bar" by the
Kansas City Business Journal
Rated “AV” by
Martindale Hubbell
Professional & Civic Activities
Professional & Civic Activities
Defense Research Institute, Life, Health and Disability Committee
National Institute of Trial Advocacy
University of Missouri Trial Institute
Ross T. Roberts Inns of Court Program
The Missouri Bar Association
Kansas Bar Association
Kansas, 1990
Kansas Supreme Court
U.S. District Court for the Western and Eastern Districts of Missouri
U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits
U.S. Supreme Court
Education
Baylor University, J.D., 1989
Order of Barristers
Runner-up, Outstanding Advocate, Moot Court Competition
University of Kansas, B.A.,
with honors
and
highest distinction
, 1986
Omicron Delta Kappa
Owl Society
Harvard University, 1985 Summer School
