B. Keith Williams

B. Keith Williams (born April 18, 1964) is an American injury trial attorney whose practice focuses on aviation accidents, auto accidents, including car and motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, and other injury cases throughout the country. He is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) and is also certified in pretrial practice advocacy by the NBTA. Williams is the founder and lead attorney at the Keith Williams Law Group.

Education

Williams graduated high school in 1982 from Trousdale County High School in Hartsville, Tennessee. He completed his associate’s degree in Business Administration at Volunteer State Community College in 1986, and he received his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from Cumberland University in 1988. He earned a Juris Doctor (JD) from the Nashville School of Law in 1993.

Career

Williams' legal experience spans over three decades representing clients across the United States who are involved in accidents, injuries, and wrongful deaths. His practice areas include aviation accidents, auto accidents, big truck wrecks, highway work zone accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, bicycling accidents, child injuries, dog bites, defective products, and mesothelioma/asbestos. He focuses on providing the highest level of legal representation to his clients to obtain the maximum possible compensation for their injuries.

With a clientele spanning from Los Angeles to New York, Williams has brought his courtroom skills as a certified Civil Trial Specialist to clients across the country. He has tried hundreds of cases before a jury and negotiated many significant settlements before trial, acquiring millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for his clients. He has won numerous notable jury verdicts, including a $14,657,123 verdict for an injured motorcycle rider and a $6,200,000.00 verdict for a car accident victim. He has likewise obtained several substantial but confidential settlements against commercial trucking companies and the third-party brokers who hired them.

Williams also has extensive experience in aviation crash cases, representing injured clients and the families of victims killed in helicopter and airplane crashes, in-flight incidents, and other aviation-related disasters. He has represented clients against national and international airlines, including Comair, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Iranian Airlines, and China Southern Airlines, as well as manufacturers in the aviation industry, such as Robson Helicopters, Honeywell, and Garmin. Williams’ aviation experience also includes general aviation (non-commercial) cases involving individual pilots, product manufacturers, and fixed base operators who perform maintenance on the aircraft.

Williams was a founding partner of the law firm Lannom and Williams, PLLC and is the founder of the Keith Williams Law Group, which is based in the Nashville, Tennessee, area and provides representation for injured clients in personal injury matters throughout the United States, having successfully obtained millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements to compensate its clients for the harm that has been done to them.

Verdicts and settlements

• A jury trial verdict awarding $14,657,123 to a client who was injured in a motorcycle collision.

• $8,5000,000 wrongful death settlement for a widow and her family for the death of her husband resulting from a commercial airline crash.

• $8,400,000 settlement for the widow of a construction worker killed on an interstate by the negligent driver of a tractor-trailer.

• $8,300,000 settlement for his young client, who was hit by a tractor-trailer and severely injured. Williams was able to negotiate a recovery from both the trucking company itself and the 3rd party freight broker that hired it.

• $6,200,000 jury verdict in a car accident case for a client who lost a leg in the collision.

• $3,000,000 in settlements for two airline flight attendants injured when they were thrown about in the cabin due to faulty maintenance by a third-party ground crew.

• $1,285,000 in settlements for a client injured by the negligence of a foreign industrial manufacturer.

• $1,000,000 settlement for a client whose private plane was landed on by another general aviation aircraft.

License and court admissions

• Licensed to practice in the State of Tennessee since 1993

• Admitted to Practice in the Tennessee Supreme Court, Tennessee Court of Appeals, and all Tennessee Trial Courts

• Admitted to Practice in the United States Supreme Court

• Admitted to Practice in the Federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

• Admitted to Practice in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

• Admitted to Practice in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

• Admitted to Practice in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in the Federal District Court for the Central District of California

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in the Federal District Court for the District of Vermont

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in North Carolina

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in Texas

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in West Virginia

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in Wyoming

• Admitted to Practice Pro Hac Vice in case in Illinois

Associations

• Active member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ)

• Member of the Public Justice Foundation

• Past President of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA)

• Frequent lecturer at legal seminars to other attorneys in Tennessee and in other states

• Past chair of the Aviation Law Section of the American Association for Justice (AAJ)

• Member of the Aviation and Space Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort

• Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS)

• Past Member of TTLA Circle of Advocates

• Contributing member of Lawyers Involved for Tennessee (LIFT)

Awards and recognition

• Included in Best Lawyers in America from 2015 to present

• Best Lawyer: Nashville Area 2015/2016 in Products Litigation Law

• Achieved the highest possible peer review rating, preeminent, in the Martindale Hubbell peer review system

• Board Certified in Pretrial Practice Advocacy by the NBTA

• Board Certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the NBTA

• Avvo rating of 10/10

• Top 100 Trial Lawyers

• Super Lawyers, Annual List of Top Attorneys in the Mid-south

• Super Lawyers Top 50 Lawyers in Tennessee

Publications

Book

Williams is the author of The Consumers’ Guide to a Tennessee Accident or Personal Injury Case, a comprehensive guide for victims of injury accidents.[1]

Scholarly lectures and writings

• ABA Torts Trial & Practice Section Aviation Litigation Conference, Aviation Litigation: The Future of Aviation Litigation, 2023

• ABA Torts Trial & Practice Section Aviation Litigation Conference, Aviation Litigation: Welcome to the New Normal, 2022

• ABA National Institute on Aviation Litigation, General Aviation Revitalization Act, 2021

• Aviation Webinar, Sky Torts–Things that Go Up Must Come Down Abruptly, 2020

• ABA TIPS Aviation Section, Washington D.C., Effective Negotiation and Mediation Strategies in Aviation Cases, 2019

• Tennessee’s 15th Judicial District Meeting, Lebanon, TN Subrogation in Today’s World, 2018

• Blount County Bar Association, Maryville, TN Subrogation Traps and Pitfalls, 2018

• National Institute on Aviation Litigation Chicago, IL Practical Discovery in Aviation Cases, 2017

• Kentucky Justice Association Annual Convention, Florence, IN, Motivating Conservative Jurors, 2017

• Hot Topics in Trucking Litigation, Chattanooga, TN, Evidentiary Issues in Trucking Broker Cases, 2016

• Kentucky Justice Association, Destin, FL Proving Truck Broker’s Liability, 2015

• International Institute on Aviation Litigation – New York, New York Evidentiary Issues of Governmental Finding of Facts and Opinions, 2015

• Establishing Liability for 3rd Party Brokers in Trucking Cases, Speaker, Establishing Liability for 3rd Party Brokers in Trucking Cases, North Dakota Association for Justice, 2014

• Determining Liability in Trucking Cases, Speaker, Determining Liability in Trucking Cases, Mississippi Association for Justice, 2014

• Federal Rules of Evidence in Aviation Cases, Speaker/Panel Member, Federal Rules of Evidence in Aviation Cases, American Bar Association, 2014

• Establishing Liability for 3rd Party Brokers in Trucking Cases, Speaker, Establishing Liability for 3rd Party Brokers in Trucking Cases, Kentucky Association for Justice, 2014

• Proving Freight Broker Liability in Tractor Trailer Cases, Speaker, Proving Freight Broker Liability in Tractor Trailer Cases, Tennessee Association for Justice – Annual Review, 2013

• Holding the Broker Liable in 18-Wheeler Cases, Speaker/Webinar, Holding the Broker Liable in 18-Wheeler Cases, Tennessee Association for Justice, 2013

• FDA Advises Consumers Not to Use Certain Zicam Cold Remedies

• Lawsuits in Tennessee to Address Secondary Infection Caused by Tainted Steroid

• Medical Malpractice and Children – 20 Tips to Help Prevent It

• Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Meningitis and How to Avoid Them

• Airline Safety – Should Passengers Be Concerned

• 10 Common Myths About Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases