Partner, Trial Attorney

Douglas R. Williams was raised in a military family. After retiring from the armed forces, his father sailed as the chief medical officer with many of the most popular cruise lines, including Holland America Line, Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line. When not in school, Doug spent a good part of his youth in the crew quarters sailing with his father on Alaskan, Hawaiian and Caribbean cruises. He developed a practical knowledge of the cruise industry from a young age.

Doug attended Washington & Lee University in Virginia where he studied history and played NCAA football. He went on to earn his Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from Florida State University. As a law student Doug was a Book Award Recipient, an honor granted to the student with the highest grade in Admiralty Law, Civil Practice, and Sports Law.

He graduated in the top ten percent of his law school class and was also admitted into the Order of the Coif. Doug spent the majority of his final year of law school clerking for Judge Padovano of the Florida First District Court of Appeal.

Out of law school, Doug accepted a position in Tampa, Florida with the leading maritime litigation firm in the Southeast. Doug handled commercial disputes, such as actions on charter parties, enforcement of maritime liens, vessel attachments and arrests, but his practice focused on the defense of casualty lawsuits.

Doug’s work took him to various ports on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean to investigate accidents on behalf of ship-owners. During his tenure in Tampa, Doug had a published opinion dealing with the enforceability of venue provisions in seamen’s employment contracts, U.S. United Barge Lines v. Hagan and worked on the most important seamen’s case to reach the United States Supreme Court in the last twenty years, Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend.

In 2011, Doug and his wife relocated to Washington State. Doug joined a downtown Seattle maritime firm where he defended Seattle-based commercial fishing companies and cruise lines against personal injury and wrongful death claims.

Doug joined Anderson Carey Williams & Neidzwski in 2012. He now devotes his practice to the representation of injured seamen.

Doug is licensed to practice law in the state courts of Washington State, Washington, D.C., and Florida. He is admitted to practice before the following federal courts: the United States Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Western District of Washington, and the Middle District of Florida.

 

Education

  • J.D., Florida State University College of Law, 2005
  • B.A., Washington & Lee University, 2000

Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice

  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2011
  • Western District of Washington, 2011
  • Supreme Court of the United States, 2009
  • Washington D.C., 2011
  • Washington, 2011
  • Middle District of Florida, 2005
  • Florida, 2005

Previous Employment

  • Associate at Nielsen Shields, PLLC in Seattle, WA
  • Associate at Lau, Lane, Pieper, Conley & McCreadie, PA in Tampa, FL
  • Clerk to Judge Philip J. Padovano of the Florida First District Court of Appeal

Professional Associations Memberships

  • Super Lawyers-Rising Star 2015
  • Super Lawyers- Rising Star 2014
  • Whatcom County Bar Association
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States
  • American Bar Association
  • Washington State Association for Justice
  • Order of the Coif
  • Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law
  • Book Award recipient in Admiralty Law, Civil Practice and Sports Law

Representative Cases

  • Hottmann v. Hatch, 2017 WL 598764 (D. Or. 2017)
  • Nye v. Viking Spirit, Inc., 2018 WL 3130381 (D. Alaska 2018)
  • Zimmerman v. F/V Leslie Lee, Inc. 2015 WL 80419958 (D. Or. 2015)
  • Tucker v. Cascade General and United States of America, 2014 WL 6085829 (D. Or. 2014)
  • REC Boats, LLC v. RP/PHL Marine Leasing, Inc., 2012 WL 6725838 (D. Or. 2012)
  • Barrette v. Jubilee Fisheries, Inc., 2011 WL 3516061 (W.D. Wash. 2011)
  • TECO Barge Line, Inc. and U.S. United Barge Line, LLC v. Hagan, 15 So. 3d 863 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2009)
  • Tucker v. Cascade General and the United States of America, 2015 AMC 1302, 2015 WL 566452 (D. Or. 2015)
  • Leloff v. Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, Ltd., 2016 AMC 1752, 2016 WL 3457166 (D. Or. 2016)