Awards do not win cases. Juries do. But when other lawyers, including the ones sitting at the defense table, vote to recognize a firm year after year, that says something real about its standing.
Williams Hart & Boundas, LLP has earned a 2027 Best Lawyers® recognition. Three of our attorneys also made the list in their practice areas. For the families and workers we represent across Houston, Texas, and the country, here is what that honor actually means.
How Lawyers Land on the Best Lawyers List
Best Lawyers® has published its lists in the United States for more than four decades. The selection process is built on one thing: what other attorneys say.
Lawyers already on the list are asked to review peers who practice in the same city and the same area of law. They answer a simple question: if you had to hand this case to someone else, who would you trust with it? Attorneys who draw enough support from that survey earn a spot.
A few points worth understanding:
- No one buys their way on. Lawyers cannot pay a fee to appear on the list.
- The voters know the work. The people casting votes try cases against and alongside the lawyers they review.
- It has to be earned again. Attorneys go through the review every year, so a long run on the list reflects a long run of solid results.
That last point matters most here. Staying on a peer-reviewed list for five years is hard. Staying on it for twenty is another thing entirely.
The Three Attorneys Recognized in 2027
Each of these lawyers earned recognition in Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, the practice area at the core of what our firm does.
Jim Hart
Jim Hart has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2021, making 2027 his fifth year on the list. Jim is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and he has spent his career taking on trucking companies, chemical plants, and the corporations behind catastrophic on-the-job injuries.
Cesar Tavares
Cesar Tavares has been recognized since 2025 and returns to the list for 2027. Cesar represents injured people and grieving families in serious injury and wrongful death claims, and his early peer recognition points to the reputation he is building among Houston trial lawyers.
John Eddie Williams, Jr.
John Eddie Williams, Jr. has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2006 — more than twenty straight years. Our founding partner earned recognition in three separate practice areas:
- Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Plaintiffs
- Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
- Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs
Few plaintiff lawyers in the country hold peer recognition across three areas at once. John Eddie built this firm in 1983 out of a union household and a belief that working people deserve the same firepower a corporation can hire.
Why Peer Recognition Should Matter to You
If you were hurt in an 18-wheeler wreck, an oil field explosion, or a crane collapse, you are about to face a company with lawyers on retainer and an insurance carrier that fights for a living. The question you should ask is not who has the nicest ad. It is who the other side takes seriously.
Peer recognition helps answer that. So does our record:
- More than $24 billion recovered for injured clients
- A $117 million wrongful death verdict against a chemical plant
- A $76 million verdict against a drug manufacturer
- A $15 million trucking verdict
Our team holds Board Certifications in Personal Injury Trial Law and Labor and Employment Law, along with AV Preeminent ratings and Texas Super Lawyers recognition. We handle 18-wheeler wrecks, oil field and refinery injuries, maritime and Jones Act claims, product liability cases, and mass torts.
Insurance companies track which firms try cases and which ones fold. That knowledge shapes every offer they make.
Talk to a Houston Trial Lawyer — Free and With No Obligation
You should not have to wonder whether your lawyer can carry your case to a jury. Ours can, and other lawyers say so.
Call Williams Hart & Boundas, LLP at (713) 230-2200 or fill out our online contact form to schedule your free consultation. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay us nothing up front and nothing at all unless we recover money for you.
Tell us what happened. We will tell you what your options look like.