William Whitehurst

William O. Whitehurst is a past president of the State Bar of Texas and the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. He is a registered pharmacist in both Oklahoma and Texas, board certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He has also been an instrument-rated licensed pilot since 1967. Mr. Whitehurst has served on the faculty of the University of Texas School of Law and Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Programs. He is a fellow and past president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Since 1975, he has specialized in catastrophic injury and death cases involving medical malpractice, defective products, aviation, and vehicle accidents. He has achieved some of the largest medical malpractice verdicts against the United States government, including an $18.96 million recovery for a brain-damaged infant in San Antonio and a $15.75 million recovery for a similar birth injury in Austin. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 1995 and as a Super Lawyer by Thomson Reuters every year since 2003. He co-founded the national organization Bar Leaders for the Preservation of Legal Services to the Poor and received the National Legal Aid and Defender Association's national award for leadership in equal justice.