Hall Estill

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 Preeminent rating through Martindale-Hubbell.

Under Ken's leadership as President, the Tulsa County Bar Association was awarded the Oklahoma Bar Association's award for Best Bar Association 2015. 

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 Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • 1996 - Present Hall Estill
  • 1995 - 1996 Davenport & Williams, P.C.
  • 1988 - 1994 Helmerich & Payne, Inc.
  • 1977 - 1987 Williams, White & Associates
  • Recognized as the 2022 Best Lawyers' Tulsa Lawyer of the Year in Litigation-Environmental Law
  • Recipient of the 2019 President's Award by the Tulsa County Bar Foundation for his work related to finding an effective and economic method of removing graffiti from the Tulsa Bar Center
  • Recipient of the Gary C. Clark Distinguished Service Award by the Tulsa County Bar Association
  • Recipient of the 2012 President's Award by the Tulsa County Bar Association for his work as Chair of the Fee Arbitration Committee
  • Named to the 2013 Power Attorneys & Legal Professionals list by Tulsa Business & Legal News
  • Recipient of the 2013 Earl Sneed Lang Award presented by the Oklahoma Bar Association for his contribution to continuing legal education
  • Recognized as a Best Lawyer in America in Litigation-Environmental Law
  • Recognized as a Local Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation
  • Recognized as a Super Lawyer in Oklahoma in Energy & Natural Resources
  • Tulsa Urban Ministries (Tulsa Neighborhood Networks) - Co-Founder
  • Boy Scouts of America - Sponsor Liaison
  • 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
  • President-Elect, 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
  • Continuing Presenter for the Joint Session of Oklahoma/Arkansas Environmental Law Sections of Annual Case Law Update for Oklahoma and Tenth Circuit
  • "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)
  • "Legal Aspects of Industrial Hygiene," presented at the Fall Conference of the Oklahoma Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (October 2017)

 

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