Biography

Bill Ogletree was born in Houston, Texas. His father was a district chief in the Houston Fire Department and his mother stayed home to raise him, his brother and sister. Bill graduated from Mary Brantley Smiley High School in the Northeast Houston Independent School District. Bill played baseball, basketball and football and excelled in history and government courses. After high school Bill Ogletree attended the University of Houston where he majored in psychology and minored in sociology.

After college Bill began working at Aetna Casualty & Surety Insurance Company as a claims adjuster, where he was shocked to see how insurance companies cheated good people who were injured in accidents. It was during this time that he realized how badly people needed an attorney when involved in an accident. It was then that he decided to go to law school to help people.

Bill applied and was accepted at the University of Houston Law School and graduated thirty months later, finishing earlier than the normal three year course. He took and passed the Texas Bar Exam on his first attempt, was sworn by a Harris County District Judge who immediately began appointing Mr. Ogletree to represent criminal defendants who were too poor to hire a lawyer.

After practicing criminal defense law Bill was asked to join the Jefferson County Criminal District Attorney’s Office in Beaumont, Texas where he began his career in the appellate section, was appointed attorney to the Jefferson County Commissioners’ Court and then promoted to Head of Special Crimes. In 1979 Bill Ogletree left the District Attorney’s Office to return to private practice to be able to better provide for his family.

Bill Ogletree is now senior partner in the firm of Ogletree Abbott Law Firm, L.L.P. in Houston, Texas. The Ogletree Abbott Law Firm represents people, not corporations and primarily represents people who have been injured in auto accidents, job accidents, including workers’ compensation and Jones Act claims. Ogletree Abbott is the leading Workers’ Compensation law firm in the State of Texas, representing injured workers and is one of the nation’s leading Internet law firms, representing clients across the country and on every continent of the world.

Bill has served on State Bar of Texas committees including the Advertising Review Committee and the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee. The State Bar of Texas awarded Mr. Ogletree it’s pro bono award for providing free legal services to people who could not afford to pay a lawyer. Bill was awarded the prestigious AV rating by the world’s most respected legal directory, the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory. Martindale Hubbell after reviewing numerous letters from lawyers, judges and law professors decided to award Mr. Ogletree with their highest rating of AV, which indicates that Bill Ogletree is pre-eminent in his field of practice. Bill is a member of the State Bar of Texas, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Houston Bar Association and the American Bar Association

Bill Ogletree is the author of Jones Act – Maritime Law for Injured Workers (available on Amazon.com) and has written numerous publications on a wide range of legal subjects including auto accidents and workers’ compensation.