Schmoyer Reinhard is pleased to announce William R. Liles has joined the firm as counsel and will be based in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Liles spent four years as an associate with a Houston law firm litigating Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour cases across the country.
Mr. Liles’ practice encompasses all aspects of labor and employment law with a particular emphasis on wage and hour litigation, including both the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour law. An active trial lawyer, he has served as the first chair trial attorney on numerous cases through verdict. He regularly litigates in both federal and state court and in private arbitrations throughout the United States. Because not all cases need or even should be tried to verdict, Mr. Liles has also negotiated and obtained final court approval of multi-million dollar settlements involving thousands of wage and hour class and collective members.
Prior to working in labor and employment law, Mr. Liles had extensive civil litigation experience throughout South Texas, Corpus Christi, and Houston. Mr. Liles represented clients in civil contract disputes, construction defect cases, products liability, and personal injury claims. Just six months out of law school, Mr. Liles was the first chair trial attorney for a plaintiff-side personal injury trial that resulted in the ninth highest motor vehicle verdict in Texas for that year.
Mr. Liles obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. Prior to law school, he taught English as a second language in Santiago, Chile for a year. He also participated as a crew member in the Transpacific Yacht Race, racing a sailboat from Long Beach, California to Honolulu, Hawaii. Mr. Liles obtained his law degree from Baylor University in 2012, where he was admitted to the Order of the Barrister for outstanding oral advocacy. Mr. Liles and his wife now live in Houston where they are raising their two daughters.