Ken Williams, a member of the firm's Board of Directors, is a 40-year business defense attorney with expertise in Environmental, Municipal Law, Natural Resources, Real Estate and Renewable Energy Law and has an individual AV rating through Martindale-Hubbell. He has also been recognized by Best Lawyers in Litigation-Environmental law, a Local Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation, and an Oklahoma Super Lawyer in Energy & Natural Resources. Further, he was named the Best Lawyers 2022 Tulsa Litigation-Environmental Law Lawyer of the Year, while in 2012 he received a President's Award by the Tulsa County Bar Association for his work as Chair of the Fee Arbitration Committee.
In 2013 he was named to the Power Attorneys & Legal Professionals list by the Tulsa Business & Legal News and received the Oklahoma Bar Association's Earl Sneed Lang Award for his contribution to continuing legal education. Under his leadership as President, the Tulsa County Bar Association was awarded the Oklahoma Bar Association's award for Best Bar Association 2015. Further, in 2018 he was recognized by the Tulsa County Bar Association with the Gary C. Clark Distinguished Service Award and in 2019 he was recognized by the Tulsa County Bar Foundation with a President's Award for his work related to finding an effective and economic method of removing graffiti from the Tulsa Bar Center.
Highlights of his career include: successful defense of the largest asbestos contamination case to date in Oklahoma and lead in providing all legal services to a real estate developer for the purchase, remediation and successful renovation of the largest informal Brownfields project to date in Oklahoma.
Ken’s Renewable Energy and Wind experience includes:
- Assisting in public notice and public meetings to encourage communities to support wind projects.
- Negotiating wind leases and resolving title issues that arose after the leasing phase of wind projects.
- Providing guidance on environmental due diligence and right of way disputes.
- Resolving challenges by oil and gas lessees who opposed locations of wind facilities.
- Clearing permit issues that arose with various governmental agencies reviewing wind projects.
- Assisting in the legal opinion phase of closing of the various financing vehicles for wind projects.
Education
- University of Tulsa College of Law (J.D., 1977)
- University of Tulsa (B.S. in Petroleum Engineering, 1974)
Admissions
- Arkansas, 1998
- Oklahoma, 1977
- Oklahoma Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas
- U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma
- United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- Administrative Law
- Alternative / Renewable Energy
- Auto Dealer Law
- Crisis Response Team
- Energy & Natural Resources Services
- Environmental Litigation
- Environmental Services
- Insurance Law & Tort Litigation
- Litigation
- Municipal & Public Authority
- Regulatory Compliance
- Transactions/Real Estate
- Water Law & Land Rights
- 1996 - Present Hall Estill
- 1995 - 1996 Davenport & Williams, P.C.
- 1988 - 1994 Helmerich & Payne, Inc.
- 1977 - 1987 Williams, White & Associates
- Member, Oklahoma Bar Association Board of Governors (Supreme Court Judicial District 6)
- American Bar Association - Environment, Energy & Resources, and Real Property, Probate & Trust Sections
- Oklahoma Bar Association - Member, Professional Liability Tribunal; Member, Environmental Law and Real Property Sections
- Vice President, Oklahoma Bar Association and Member, Board of Governors
- Tulsa County Bar Association - President (2014-2015), Board of Directors; Mineral Law Section; Corporate Counsel Section; Current Chair of Fee Arbitration Committee
- Tulsa County Bar Foundation Trustee
- Arkansas Bar Association - Environmental Law Section
- American Inns of Court, Council Oak Chapter
- Tulsa Urban Ministries (Tulsa Neighborhood Networks) - Co-Founder
- Boy Scouts of America - Sponsor Liaison
- Continuing Presenter for the Joint Session of Oklahoma/Arkansas Environmental Law Sections of Annual Case Law Update for Oklahoma and Tenth Circuit
- "Legal Aspects of Industrial Hygiene," presented at the Fall Conference of the Oklahoma Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (October 2017)
- "Environmental Law Update," presented to the Tulsa County Bar Association (2007)
- "Oklahoma Chicken Litter Wars," presented to the 27th Annual Agricultural Law Symposium of the American Agricultural Law Association (2006)
- "Musings on Natural Resource Damages," presented to the Oklahoma Bar Association, Environmental Law Section (June 2006)
- Current Issues from the Perspective of Municipalities/Phase II Storm Water Permits (2005)
- "Electronic Discovery," presented to the Oklahoma Bar Association, Environmental Law Section (June 2003)
- "Ethics and Environmental Justice," presented to the Joint Session of Oklahoma/Arkansas Environmental Law Sections (May 1998)
- "Civil and Criminal Liability of Officers and Directors of Corporations Under Current Environmental Law," Oklahoma Bar Journal (1996) & Oklahoma Bar Association/Environmental Law Section Handbook
- "Oklahoma’s Proposed Regulation of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials," Environmental Law Section Newsletter (1994)
- 2017 Best Lawyers® Tulsa Litigation-Environmental Law Lawyer of the Year
- 2022 Best Lawyers® Tulsa Litigation-Environmental Law Lawyer of the Year
- Hall Estill Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as Highly Recommended Law Firm
- Hall Estill Shareholders Honored for Outstanding Contributions by Tulsa County Bar
- Hall Estill Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as “Highly Recommended Law Firm”
- Hall Estill Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as “Highly Recommended Law Firm”