William "Will" Hoke was raised on a ranch in a small country town in Texas and was taught to work hard by his father, who made his living as a pipeline welder; and his mother, who stayed home to raise him. Mr. Hoke comes from a long family line of offshore oil rig workers and offshore pipeline welders, and his dad is a longstanding member of the Local 798 Pipeliners Union. To assist with college, Mr. Hoke also worked in the oilfield - building, repairing and servicing oilfield equipment both inland and offshore. Mr. Hoke has drawn upon his actual oilfield work experience in successfully handling dangerous workplace lawsuits against British Petroleum (BP) and other corporate giants.
Mr. Hoke earned his BBA in Business Management from Texas A&M University in 2000. Mr. Hoke earned his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law in 2004. While at South Texas, Mr. Hoke actively participated in Varsity Mock Trial and Moot Court and served as an Officer on the Board of Advocates from 2002 – 2004.
Upon graduating from law school, Mr. Hoke worked as an associate attorney for a prominent Houston personal injury law firm, and after only couple of years in practice, became the head of the litigation group at a longtime personal injury firm; primarily focusing on offshore accidents, trucking accidents, workplace accidents, refinery explosions, defective products, burn injuries and brain injuries.
In 2016, Mr. Hoke saw the need to treat clients as names instead of numbers. He opened the doors of William Hoke & Associates, LLLP (“WHA”) to better serve seriously injured clients and victims of lost loved ones and treat them with compassion, attention and the respect they deserve.
His Bar Admissions include: Texas (2004), U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas and the U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas.
In 2010, Mr. Hoke was selected to Texas SuperLawyers Rising Stars for 2011 as published in Texas Monthly Magazine and again selected to Texas SuperLawyers Rising Stars in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. SuperLawyers is a rating service of exceptional lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. Only 2% of all Texas attorneys are selected as SuperLawyers Rising Stars and Mr. Hoke is one of them.
In April 2010, H Texas Magazine named Mr. Hoke as one of Houston's Top Lawyers and again selected him in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
In 2012, Mr. Hoke was part of the trial team who filed a wrongful death lawsuit arising from the June 2, 2012 Channelview, Texas explosion for the family of a welder (and injured co-workers) killed at the Oiltanking Houston oil storage terminal. After 17 months of litigation, 5 1/2 weeks of trial and 3 days of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict of $20.2 million in favor of the clients. It was the top verdict in Harris County, Texas for 2013 and a top 100 verdict nationwide for 2013.
In 2017, Mr. Hoke was honored to receive the award for Top Ten Personal Injury Attorney by the National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys and the award for Best Attorneys of America by Rue Ratings
Additionally, in 2017, William Hoke & Associates, LLLP was honored to be awarded Best Law Firms of America.
There are over 70,000 attorneys licensed to practice in Texas. Only 7,000 have earned the right to be publicly recognized as Board Certified specialists in 1 of 21 select areas of law.
In the area of Personal Injury Trial Law, a lawyer must have significant experience and a variety of references for his or her handling of claims based on an individual’s injury by the negligence of another. Currently, only 1,606 of the 70,000 lawyers in Texas are Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law, and Mr. Hoke is one of them.
Education:
- Bachelor of Business Administration, 2000, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
- Juris Doctorate, 2004, South Texas College of Law, Houston, Texas
Admitted to Practice:
- State Bar of Texas, 2004
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas
Professional Organizations (Present & Former):
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- Houston Trial Lawyers Association
- Million Dollar Advocates Forum (Life Member)
- Multi-Million Dollar Verdicts and Settlements Club (Life Member)
- American Association of Justice
- Houston Bar Association
- American Bar Association