Lawyers

Founding partner John Eddie Williams, Jr. is a passionate, highly experienced legal expert and upstanding community member. He consistently demonstrates an inherent duty to advocate for those in need through his ambition in the courtroom and his firm’s culture. Hard work and tenacity are attributes that helped John Eddie achieve his success, and these are qualities he has fostered within the team of attorneys and staff at Williams Hart & Boundas since 1983.

John Eddie primarily focuses his practice on mass tort cases involving pharmaceutical and medical devices, asbestos, silicosis, benzene, and toxic waste exposure. John Eddie’s record of success has received substantial recognition, and rightfully so. However, by far, his most significant win in the courtroom is the 1995 landmark battle against Big Tobacco in which he represented the State of Texas. That victory in this landmark case resulted in the largest settlement in United States history, reaching a total of $17.3 billion. His impressive history doesn’t stop there. He has successfully secured tens of millions of dollars for various clients, aiding them in their quest for restitution for the harm unjustly done to them.

John Eddie takes great pride in all that he has accomplished, having worked hard his entire life. As a native Houstonian and son of working-class parents, he knows the importance of fighting for what he believes in. He finds great fulfillment in being able to direct his energies to advocate for members of his community for whom the law is the only recourse. He knows how important it is to have a strong advocate when navigating the legal arena.

John Eddie is licensed to practice in Texas, as well as in the United States District Courts for the Western, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of Texas. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Third Circuits, as well as the United States Supreme Court. He is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1982 – one of only 1,300 lawyers to earn such a distinction in the entire state of Texas.

John Eddie attended Baylor University on a football scholarship, graduating cum laude in 1976 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He then entered Baylor School of Law, serving as editor-in-chief of the Baylor Law Review and passing the Texas State Bar exam 15 days before graduating first in his class.

This pattern of excellence has continued throughout his entire career and has been recognized by a number of organizations. In 2018, John Eddie was the recipient of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his decades of outstanding legal service and exceptional results. That same year, he was inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He has been AV Preeminent^® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell since 1985. He has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America^® every year since 2013, included in The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Civil Plaintiffs Lawyers list every year since 2011, and has been listed in the Top Attorneys in Texas list every year since 2013.

John Eddie has spent years helping shape the legal community through dedicated leadership, as well. He is the Past President of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Houston Trial Lawyers Association, the Houston Trial Lawyers Foundation, and the past chair of the Houston Bar Foundation – an organization that awarded him the James B. Sales Pro Bono Leadership Award in 2015.

Aside from his legal work, John is very active in his community and makes a point to give back. As a Baylor alumnus, he feels it is important to invest in the community that has given him so much. Decades after his graduation from the university, he funded a new on-campus football stadium alongside the Brazos River. This construction took its athletics organization to new heights. As a result, the field at Baylor Stadium was appropriately named John Eddie Williams Field.

John Eddie’s dedication to the community doesn’t stop at his alma mater. As the son and grandson of union longshoremen, he remained a strong advocate of workers and organized labor, representing members and their cases at every opportunity.

“Workers are the backbone of our country, and we work hard to help them in any way we can.”

John and his wife Sheridan feel strongly about helping the community where they live and were born, donating their time and money to many charitable organizations in Houston. They are particularly excited to be involved with the Houston Chronicle’s Goodfellows Fund, which provides new toys for needy children ages two to 10 during the holiday season. John is also a proud member of the Board of Directors for both the Houston Police Foundation and the Houston Astros.