Fighting Fairly

No one was more surprised than William Toles when he received the James H. “Blackie” Holmes Award last December.

Established in honor of the Dallas trial lawyer who passed away in 2014, the award recognizes integrity and civility, among other standards of professionalism, upheld by the American Board of Trial Advocates. It is the Dallas chapter’s highest honor, presented only sporadically.

Before his name was called, Toles was concentrating on another accolade, Trial Judge of the Year, and the remarks he had prepared to introduce that recipient.

Then he heard Lewis R. Sifford, a trial lawyer he’s looked up to for years, call his name. “I was not expecting that,” the 55-year-old litigator says.

Sifford, a Dallas trial lawyer and past recipient of the award, says the executive committee, of which Toles was a member, took votes without Toles’ knowledge. As Sifford spoke of the unnamed awardee, he could see Toles looking around the room, wondering why he didn’t know who was about to receive the honor.

“I described, in a very general way, how thoughtful he was and how people respected and adored him. But I didn’t even say if it was a man or woman until the very end,” Sifford says. “William sat there kind of frozen in place when I finally said his name, and then he came up and we hugged.”

“It was very surreal,” adds Toles. “Very humbling.”

He was probably the only person who was shocked that he had won. Dallas attorney Quentin Brogdon has known Toles for more than two decades, and they’ve tried cases against one another. “William’s a tough-but-fair, and civil, opponent. Even though he will fight hard, he will fight fairly. He never hides evidence or skews things,” Brogdon says. “You can’t find somebody who doesn’t like and respect William. You just can’t.” 

“Reputations are very important,” says Toles. “Even though Dallas is a large city, the legal community is a very small world. Being respectful to people, being accommodating in trial—we’re all in it together.”

A slice of Dallas’ cityscape peeks out from under the half-drawn blinds in Toles’ downtown office as he winds down a busy Monday. A shareholder at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, Toles is dressed in business casual attire. Although he is not wearing his usual bow tie, a navy polka-dotted pocket square adds flair to his deep blue jacket. Framed photographs line the windowsills and compete for space with memorabilia—like the signed footballs Toles has received as a board member of the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association.

He describes his current caseload as “50% to 60% personal injury, transportation and product liability” for the defense, the rest commercial litigation. “I feel like I’m spread a little thin at times,” Toles says, “but the level of intrigue and the level of variety is such that I like it.” 

Toles grew up in Dallas, and he and his wife, Wendy Parnell Toles, live on his childhood street—a block or so from his mother, a retired educator. He and his two sisters were raised there by Mary Ann and their late father, William R., a Dallas public high school principal, teacher and coach. 

Despite his deep Dallas roots, Toles always imagined going to college in another state. “A lot of my high school friends were going to UT Austin, Texas A&M, the University of Oklahoma,” he says. “I just felt that I wanted something different.” 

Poring over college catalogs, he became so knowledgeable about different schools that friends sought him out for guidance with their own college searches. Toles wound up applying to 11—mostly small liberal arts schools—and chose Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where he majored in American history and broadcast journalism. Having participated in debate and mock trial in high school, Toles kept law school in the back of his mind. And although he considered the East Coast, he eventually decided to stay in Lexington for his J.D. “Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don’t know,” he says of the potential distractions of bigger cities.

The summer after his 1L, Toles returned to Dallas to work in the district attorney’s office under Dan Hagan; he spent the following summer at the DA’s office in Houston. “I didn’t want to do criminal law, but I wanted to get some trial experience,” he says. 

So much so that he went to the Dallas City Attorney’s Office after graduation in 1995. “You had these cases that you couldn’t really screw up, but you were still getting in front of a jury,” Toles says of the Class C misdemeanors that made up the bulk of his work. “I had a goal to get trial experience and to move on, but I developed some really good friendships at that office that continue to this day.”

Within a year, Toles had accepted a position at Stradley & Wright, where he tried personal injury cases on the defense side. His first case involved an insurance claim in an auto accident. “I remember the case, I remember the judge, I remember it all like it was yesterday,” he says. 

While the plaintiff won on liability, the jury awarded less than the defense had offered as a settlement. A mentor at the firm, Steve Pipkin, attended the trial and encouraged Toles to be confident and take his time when questioning a witness. He told Toles he had a good voice, and advised him to use tone and inflection to emphasize questions. “At the end, I thought there was definitely a lot of room for improvement,” Toles says. “But I realized this was something I liked doing, and could see myself doing for a long time.”

In 2012, Toles left for Fee, Smith & Sharp, where he continued his focus on personal injury while expanding into products liability and, occasionally, other matters. Six years later, he was brought in on a case that remains a favorite: to help fellow senior partner Jennifer Lee defend a Dallas-based private school that was being sued by a former student and his family concerning an alleged inappropriate relationship between the student and his female teacher. 

The case, Matt Kintz, et al v. Lutheran Secondary Association of Dallas, Inc., received significant media coverage, which centered on the plaintiffs’ claims of alleged negligence, breach of contract, and violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Lee knew that Toles’ experience would help them win the case. “We were talking about some awkward subjects, given the sexual relationship. We were having to argue that the young man, who was 18 at the time, could make his own choices—even though there’s a Texas statute that makes it illegal for a student and teacher to be involved, regardless of age,” Lee says. “William’s likability and relational ways were a good complement to how I wanted to try the case to be able to get the jury on our side.” 

While the media attention and the evidentiary text messages between the student and teacher added spice to the trial, what interested Toles was the jury members’ perceptiveness. Posttrial, says Toles, a juror shared that, while they had witnessed the anguish of the family members on the stand, they also noticed them laughing and joking outside of the courtroom. 

“The jury came back and awarded two of the plaintiffs damages of just over $60,000 in total. And we had offered them a six-figure number [to settle], and they walked away from it,” says Toles. 

Toles credits his ability to connect with juries to his time as a prosecutor. “I had cases that were classic misdemeanors, and they taught me the importance of trying to connect with a jury,” he says. But he also believes his life experience has shaped his courtroom style. “I went to a really diverse public school for elementary, junior and high school. Not just racially, but socioeconomically. My life journey has allowed me to meet many different types of people, and I think that’s given me an advantage.”

In 2021, Toles moved his practice to Munsch Hardt. “I felt like I needed a new challenge, and I wanted to diversify the types of cases that I worked on,” he says, noting that his current caseload is more diverse. In fact, one of his first cases at the firm involved an oil and gas matter.

“His career trajectory has been incredibly impressive,” says Brogdon. “William has moved to ever more complex cases, ever more responsibility, ever more respected law firms. … He has defied gravity, in a sense.”

Toles became a newlywed in 2024 when he and Wendy, an OB-GYN, wed. “I had gotten to that point in life where I felt like I was really blessed. I had good friends, a great family, a great job,” he says. “I told myself, ‘Maybe I wasn’t meant to be married.’ And I decided, if that’s the case, I’m going to just have fun. And shortly thereafter, I met Wendy.”

As for the future, Toles keeps his eyes on the prize—in both life and in work. “It’s my job to do what’s in the best interest of not only my client but also the plaintiff or the individual who’s been injured. You’re helping to close the chapter for someone on the other side, and also for your client. You want to do what’s fair.”

The Ties That Bind 

William Toles’ neckties have become his sartorial signature. Ever since a classmate taught him how to tie a bow tie during law school, he’s had a thing for the dapper neckwear. There was a time, however, when he wondered if he should stop wearing them. “Years ago, I was trying a case, and someone made a comment that made me self-conscious about wearing one,” he says. 

Toles then stuck to long ties for trials. But his love of the bow tie remained and eventually he resumed the habit. “Any time I’m in trial, I wear a bow tie,” he says. “Most of the time when I go to church, I wear one.”

He buys his ties both online and from favorite stores throughout the South. And while he prefers stripes, Wendy favors patterns. “Now, being married,” he notes, “my wife likes to chime in.”