ABOUT BILL

Bill is a partner in the Mobile, Alabama office of Austill, Lewis, Pipkin & Maddox, P.C.  He has a general civil practice, focusing on the defense of workers’ compensation, personal injury and general liability matters.  Admitted to practice in Alabama and Florida, he is an experienced trial attorney in both state and federal courts throughout Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.  He is a member of the Alabama State Bar and served as Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Section from 2006-2007.  He is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been regularly selected for inclusion in “Best Lawyers” and “Super Lawyers”.  His other memberships include, the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, the Defense Research Institute (Construction Law, Trucking Law and Workers’ Compensation Committees) and the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (Co-Chair, Religious & Not For Profit Committee; Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board).  He earned the Certified Litigation Management Professional certification through CLM.  He served as Chair for the Workers’ Compensation Section of the Defense Research Institute from 2009 - 2011 and is a frequent speaker at professional education seminars on workers’ compensation and ethics topics.  He is Co-Chair of the National Workers’ Compensation Review Program for the WCI Conference.  Bill is an Eagle Scout and a founding member of the Faith Based Claims Association.  He is a Fellow to the American College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers.  He earned his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1989 and his undergraduate degree in English and History from Birmingham-Southern College in 1986.

 

Bill has been active in the workers’ compensation community for more than 25 years as a speaker and writer on workers’ compensation topics.  More recently, Bill has partnered with others in the industry to form the Faith Based Claims Association which seeks to brings God’s people together within the workers’ compensation industry.  This organization has been conducting prayer breakfasts at workers’ compensation events around the country for the past 10 years.  The first of these events took place at the WCI Convention in 2011 and annual prayer breakfasts have been conducted at WCI since that time, with the exception of this year due to the postponement of the WCI event.  This group has also conducted prayer breakfasts for the past three years at Comp Laude, together with similar breakfasts at other events around the country.  

 

Bill is a frequent speaker on workers’ compensation issues including medical legal issues, ethics issues and diversity & inclusion.  Bill was one of the first to tackle the developing area of Medicare Secondary Payer issues with an article in the DRI Magazine and a series of presentations beginning in 2003.  Bill partnered with several doctors to create some of the earlier presentations on evidence-based medicine and on the dangers presented by opioids and polypharmacy.  Bill has partnered with other individuals in the industry to create a series of presentations on Faith Based Ethics which have been delivered each year as part of the National Workers’ Compensation Review Program at the WCI conference.  These presentations have addressed topics including how shared religious values improve outcomes, how faith and the bible influence corporate culture, servant leadership, and D&I.  These presentations look to religious faith and primarily the Bible as a guide for appropriate conduct by the various participants in the workers’ compensation system.  The overarching theme of these presentations is to look through the eyes of faith to recognize and protect the legitimate interests and needs of others involved in the system, primarily those of the injured workers.  Bill is working with others in the industry on a web-based collection of interviews of industry leaders addressing leadership and faith.  Bill works to bring people within the workers’ compensation industry together and help build relationships among those involved in the claims industry.