Former Dallas Court of Appeals Justice Bill Whitehill has landed at the Dallas law firm Condon Tobin Sladek Thornton Nerenberg to lead the firm’s appellate and special issues practice.
Whitehill, a Republican who was elected to Texas’ Fifth District Court of Appeals in 2014, lost his reelection bid last November to his Democratic challenger Dennise Garcia. He authored more than 600 opinions over the course of his six years on the bench of the state’s largest and most active intermediate appellate court.
“Justice Whitehill brings decades of experience as a leading appellate lawyer and jurist in our state,” Aaron Tobin, head of Condon Tobin’s trial section, said in a statement. “Our clients will benefit greatly from his strategic counsel and advocacy on important appeals and questions of law in the trial court.”
A graduate of SMU Dedman School of Law, Whitehill was a longtime partner at Gardere & Wynne (now Foley) before being elected to the bench. His private practice experience includes handling appeals and litigation involving antitrust, commercial, banking, securities, real estate, hospitality, intellectual property, domestic and international arbitrations and trust and estate matters.
In a Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, Whitehill said the two decisions he authored that he considers his best work are Prophet Equity LP v. Twin City Fire, Ins. Co. and the dissenting opinion in Baby Dolls Topless Saloons, Inc. v. Sotero.
But he said the ruling that has had the most impact on Texas jurisprudence is Rogers v. Zanetti, which concerns the proper causation standards in legal malpractice cases.