William H. Lemons

Bill Lemons is a very experienced Arbitrator and Mediator.  He has been engaged in a full-time dispute resolution practice for the past 22 years, following nearly 25 years as a trial and appellate attorney.  In those first years, Bill initially represented and advised employees, unions and employers, both large and small, in all aspects of compliance with state and federal employment laws.  His practice then moved into bankruptcy and insolvency matters, large complex commercial matters and healthcare/physician/hospital disputes.  More recently, Bill has been mediating and arbitrating large Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective and class actions all across America.

Bill arbitrates, both domestically and internationally, complex commercial, construction, healthcare, banking, energy, technology, financial services, employment and labor disputes.  In addition to being an experienced Arbitrator on the Large Complex Case, Commercial Dispute, Banking and Financial Services and Employment Law Panels of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), he is also a Panelist for the American Health Lawyers Association (“AHLA”) ADR Service.  He is on the National Panel of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (the international affiliate of the AAA), and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London. Bill is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, a Top Litigator-Related Neutral for the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and has conducted arbitrations under JAMS, AAA, AHLA, ICDR, ICC, IBA and CPR rules.  He also conducts many non-administered arbitrations by private agreement or treaty.  Bill is recognized as a leader in case management techniques and in the efficient management of conflict resolution processes, and a past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Section.  Bill serves, or has served, as a permanent Neutral for Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Coca Cola Refreshments USA, Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., Hawaiian Airlines, Toyota U.S.A., Inc. and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas.

Bill arbitrates, both domestically and internationally, complex commercial, construction, healthcare, banking, energy, technology, financial services, employment and labor disputes.  In addition to being an experienced Arbitrator on the Large Complex Case, Commercial Dispute, Banking and Financial Services and Employment Law Panels of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), he is also a Panelist for the American Health Lawyers Association (“AHLA”) ADR Service.  He is on the National Panel of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (the international affiliate of the AAA), and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London. Bill is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, a Top Litigator-Related Neutral for the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and has conducted arbitrations under JAMS, AAA, AHLA, ICDR, ICC, IBA and CPR rules.  He also conducts many non-administered arbitrations by private agreement or treaty.  Bill is recognized as a leader in case management techniques and in the efficient management of conflict resolution processes, and a past Chair of the State Bar of Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Section.  Bill serves, or has served, as a permanent Neutral for Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Coca Cola Refreshments USA, Inc., Southwest Airlines Co., Hawaiian Airlines, Toyota U.S.A., Inc. and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas.

Bill was asked to mediate a case in Tyler, where he had met his wife in the fifth grade at Clarkston Elementary School.  Always in love with Tyler, and after meeting a good number of fine attorneys in the Smith County Bar Association, Pam and Bill decided to move back to Tyler after living in San Antonio for 45 years.  They live in the Emerald Bay golf community on Lake Palestine.  Bill will continue his national mediation and arbitration practice on a very selective basis, while meshing an East Texas ADR practice into that very active presence.

Now engaged in the full-time practice of arbitrating commercial, construction, healthcare, banking, financial services, employment and labor disputes, Bill has chaired or been wing in international and significant domestic commercial cases involving complex matters and lengthy proceedings pertaining to stock purchase agreements, trusts and fiduciary obligations, partnership dissolutions, refining, offshore drilling technology, environmental, intellectual property, software and technology disputes.  He has extensive experience in construction disputes, ranging from fabricated homes to significant residences to large commercial and investment properties.  He recently chaired an ICDR case involving a Spanish corporation that is the third largest construction company in the world.  In the healthcare and medical areas, Bill has chaired or been sole arbitrator in numerous cases involving physician/hospital service/employment agreements, physician practice agreements, non-competition and confidentiality agreements, partnership and/or practice group dissolutions, nursing home negligence and standard of care cases, healthcare provider/insurance company payment/billing disputes, and other matters pertaining to the provision of healthcare-related intellectual property/technology disputes.  His experience in the banking and financial services areas is extensive, involving secured transactions, mortgages, lender liability, breach of loan commitment allegations, guaranties, violations of the automatic stay and other wrongful foreclosure matters.  In the debtor/creditors rights areas, his experience includes bankruptcy jurisdiction, preferences, avoidable transfers, setoff, interpleader, secured and unsecured loans, indenture trustees, farm and ranch/agri-business matters, oil and gas leases and royalty disputes.  His knowledge in the area of oil, gas and other minerals includes matters pertaining to leases and disputes between the operator and surface owner, executive rights, royalty, working interests and division orders,  competing water rights and suspension of production revenue.  He has served as a Chapter 11 Trustee.  He is knowledgeable in the areas of class actions, deceptive trade practices, professional fee applications, professional fee disputes, fee forfeiture actions and legal or CPA malpractice litigation. In the employment area, Bill has chaired or been sole neutral in numerous cases (200+) involving statutory employment claims, equal employment opportunity/discrimination/retaliation disputes, collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), matters involving the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Family Medical Leave Act, among others. 

Bill received a B.B.A. with Emphasis in Personnel Management from the University of Houston in 1970, and a J.D. Magna Cum Laude (Top 2%) from the University of Houston Law Center in 1972 (Order of the Coif and Houston Law Review). His first assignment after law school was to be labor counsel for a major domestic and international airline.  After several years of private law practice, he completed the Attorney-Mediators Institute Training Program in March, 1997, and since has completed over five hundred hours of Advanced Mediator and Arbitrator training by AAM, TAM, CPR, CIArb, ICDR and the AAA. Bill has assisted the AAA as facilitator or trainer in teaching the 40 hour basic mediation skills course to Coca Cola Enterprises, Inc., Zachry Construction Corporation, Alamo Community College District and others, and has taught the “Arbitration Advocacy” course for the AAA and the State Bar of Texas.

Bill is a past Chair of the State Bar of Texas ADR Section. He also is a member of the Association of Attorney-Mediators (former President and member, National Board of Directors); Distinguished Mediator – Texas Mediator Credentialing Association; Smith County Bar Association; State Bar of Texas; Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation; Life Fellow, Smith County Bar Foundation; Admitted Texas Supreme Court (1973), United States Supreme Court; United States Courts of Appeal for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits; Numerous U.S. District Courts.

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