Baker Botts L.L.P.

Litigation

Partner

Practice Group Chair - Energy Litigation (Firmwide)

Bill represents clients on disputes in all energy sectors, including oil and gas, wind, solar, infrastructure and trading. Bill also handles other types of commercial litigation.

Bill chairs the Baker Botts Energy Litigation Practice Group and co-leads the firm’s Energy Sector. He has represented clients on many significant energy matters over the past 30 years, including force majeure claims, the deregulation of electrical utilities, the siting of the first coastal windfarms, litigation relating to frac bans and other drilling and production disputes, and lawsuits over the routing of pipelines and other infrastructure. The National Law Journal has recognized Bill as an “Energy Trailblazer.”

Bill serves as President of the Houston Bar Association for the 2020-21 bar year, during which Bill led the Bar during the worst phases of the Covid-19 crisis. He currently is serving his second three-year term as a Director of the State Bar of Texas. He was also elected to the American Law Institute in 2015, and serves as a director of Communities in Schools Houston and The Alley Theatre. Bill is also the General Counsel of the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts.

Bill has written and spoken on numerous energy law topics. He has also written and spoken on Texas legal history topics, and serves as Firm Historian.

Bill received the 2021 James B. Sales Pro Bono Award, the highest award given by the Houston Bar Foundation. He also was the 2020 Recipient of the Karen Susman Jurisprudence Award, presented by ADL to one lawyer annually "who exhibits an exceptional commitment to equality, justice, fairness, and community service." He previously received the Leon Jaworski Award from the Houston Bar Auxiliary for a lifetime of public service. He is married to Elizabeth Mata Kroger, and they have three children.