Professor Williams joined the faculty in 2001. He teaches classes in legal writing, federal criminal sentencing, and interviewing and counseling. He has also taught courses in capital punishment and advanced legal writing.
Professor Williams regularly teaches a course in advanced legal writing as adjunct faculty at Tougaloo College.
In 2012, Professor Williams was appointed as a special master in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to assess damages in actions brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act for damages suffered by individuals because of embassy bombings in North Africa.
Before joining the faculty, Professor Williams founded the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-conviction Counsel, the public defenders’ office for death row inmates in post-conviction matters. Professor Williams has represented clients in all stages of capital litigation in both state and federal courts. He litigated the case in which the Mississippi Supreme Court first held that indigent state capital post-conviction litigants are entitled to compensated counsel. He also litigated the case in which the Mississippi Supreme Court first held that changes in state law eliminated the requirement that post-conviction litigants be in custody to have standing to challenge their convictions or sentences.
Upon completing law school, Professor Williams practiced first as an associate and then as a partner in the commercial litigation department of a private firm.
Professor Williams is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Mississippi Law Journal. He received his BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas.
In 2021, Professor Williams was elected to be a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Education
J.D., University of Mississippi
B.B.A, University of Texas
