Overview
Bill Merrill has been repeatedly named by his peers as one of The Best Lawyers in America in Commercial Litigation, most recently in the 2025 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White Inc.). Merrill was named among the country’s 500 Leading Litigators by Lawdragon in 2022 and 2023, named a Texas Trailblazer by Texas Lawyer in 2020 (ALM) and has been repeatedly recognized as a Super Lawyer by Texas Law & Politics magazine (Thomson Reuters). As a Susman Godfrey LLP shareholder, he has successfully pursued a broad range of complex cases on behalf of his clients.
COMPLEX LITIGATION
Mr. Merrill has represented individual and corporate clients in complex cases around the country, from Los Angeles to New York and from Houston to Chicago. His representations include both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation, trials and appeals in many practice areas, including Accounting Malpractice, Antitrust, Bankruptcy-Related Litigation, Breach of Contract, Construction, Eminent Domain, Employment, ERISA, Fiduciary Duty, False Claims Act (Qui Tam), Insurance, Intellectual Property, Negligence, Business Ownership Disputes, Personal Injury, Securities Fraud, and Toxic Tort, among others. Mr. Merrill has extensive experience in class actions and multi-party litigation and has been a repeat CLE speaker on issues surrounding multi-party litigation.
Mr. Merrill has represented clients in a broad range of industries, including the oil & gas, energy, petrochemical, construction, financial, entertainment, insurance, telecommunications, electronics and retail industries and he has represented numerous government entities. His clients are equally diverse. They include large companies, small companies, high net worth individuals, CEOs and a first round NFL draft pick.
In recent years, Mr. Merrill has focused a significant portion of his practice in the oil and gas, energy, petrochemical and financial industries. He has represented major players like Westlake Chemical Corporation, Apache, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding and Macquarie Bank as well as small companies and individuals in both plaintiff and defense cases. In a major win, the Fifth Circuit affirmed Mr. Merrill’s $43.2 million trial victory for Apache Deepwater LLC. This verdict was ranked as #41 on Verdict Search’s Top 100 Verdicts of 2016 (ALM, 2017), and re-published in The National Law Journal’s article, “Top 100 Verdicts of 2016” (ALM, 2017). The court granted Apache final judgment for $48.7 million based on the jury’s $43.2 million verdict, plus $2.5 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses, plus $2.8 million in prejudgment interest. At the time the Fifth Circuit affirmed, the value of the award had grown to over $49.9 million.
PRO BONO
Merrill is currently serving pro bono as counsel to a class of students and their families, in a class action lawsuit against the Fairfax County schools and the Virginia Department of Education for violating the rights of students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities and Education Act and the U.S. Constitution. Said Mr. Merrill in an interview with The Richmond-Times, “We are not going away. We are in this and committed for the long haul. If we have a setback like we did in the District Court on the motion to dismiss, that to us is just another opportunity to pursue another avenue … If they knock us down in one place, we’re going to pop up somewhere else. Until the system is fixed, we are all committed to do whatever it takes to get it fixed.” Read more.
