Practice Areas: Transportation & Maritime, Personal Injury; view more
Licensed in Texas since: 1993
Education: The University of Texas School of Law
Selected to Rising Stars: 2005 Call today:
972-473-6900
Wickes Law, PLLC
5600 Tennyson ParkwaySuite 205
Plano, TX 75024 Visit website
Details
An accomplished and driven attorney with 30 years of legal experience, Paul Oliver Wickes owns the law firm of Wickes Law, PLLC, at Plano, Texas. He focuses his practice on personal injury law and has successfully handled hundreds of cases involving rail and auto transportation accidents. Representing both plaintiffs and defendants, his workload has also encompassed slip-and-fall accidents, wrongful death, drunk driving accidents and catastrophic injuries leading to amputation, traumatic brain injuries and permanent disabilities.
Known among the legal community for his challenging attitude and thorough preparation, Mr. Wickes identifies all the issues involved in a case and gets to the heart of the dispute to move the case forward as efficiently as possible. Before establishing his firm, he worked for a law firm comprising 1,000-plus attorneys with branches all over the U.S. He gained extensive experience representing railroads, industries and business clients in intellectual property disputes, FELA lawsuits, general commercial litigation, trucking claims and rail transportation litigation.
As a result of Mr. Wickes’s high ethical standards and professional legal ability, Martindale-Hubbell, the most respected directory in the legal community, awarded him an AV Preeminent* rating – the organization’s highest available rating. He also holds a “Very Good” rating on Avvo.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in business administration from The University of Texas at Austin in 1990, Mr. Wickes obtained his J.D. with honors from The University of Texas School of Law in 1993. He is licensed to practice law in Texas (1993), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern, Northern, Western and Southern Districts of Texas, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
Several professional legal associations have honored Mr. Wickes with memberships. They include the Dallas Bar Association – Litigation Section, the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, the American Bar Association – Litigation and Intellectual Property sections, and the State Bar of Texas.
Genuinely concerned about the social and legal issues affecting his community, Mr. Wickes volunteers to offer his time and services to create a positive impact. He is a board member of The Samaritan Inn, a homeless shelter in McKinney, Texas.
*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.
Practice areas
Transportation/Maritime, Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff, Personal Injury - General: DefenseFocus areas
Admiralty & Maritime Law, Brain Injury, Motor Vehicle Accidents, Personal Injury - Defense, Personal Injury - Plaintiff, Premises Liability - Plaintiff, Railroad Accident, Slip and Fall, Trucking Accidents, Wrongful Death
- 40% Transportation/Maritime
- 40% Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff
- 20% Personal Injury - General: Defense
First Admitted: 1993, Texas
Professional Webpage: https://www.wickeslaw.com/attorney/wickes-paul-o/
- The Kansas City Southern Railway Company
- The Samaritan Inn, a Collin County, Texas homeless shelter, Board Member and General Counsel
- Counsel to The Samaritan Inn, Collin County's only homeless shelter., 2005
- Chancellor to Christ Church Plano, 2010
- American Bar Association, Litigation and Intellectual Property Sections, Member, 1993 to Present
- National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, Member, 1998 to Present
- Eastern District Bar Association
- Dallas Bar Association, Litigation Section, Member, 1993 to Present
- Bar Association for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Member
- Bar Association for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Member
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court Western District of Texas
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Texas
- U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
- Texas, 1993
- The University of Texas, B.B.A. in Finance, 1990
- Represented Plaintiff in a trip and fall claim. Case tried to a jury with a Plaintiff's verdict and judgment in the amount of roughly $41,000, 2020
- Defense verdict for railroad in action brought by injured employee under the Federal Employers Liability Act and the Locomotive Inspection Act, 2016
- Jury trial defending railroad in wrongful death action involve a railroad vs. pickup grade crossing collision. They jury found the decedent and the railroad 50% at faulty resulting in a $200K verdict. The plaintiffs were demanding $1 Million to settle during jury deliberations. The case is currently on appeal, 2019
- Railroad Construction Dispute $4,178,121.64 Our railroad client hired a contractor to complete a $10M rehabilitation of approximately 70 miles of mainline rail that had been out-of-service for decades. After completing the job, the contractor sued our railroad contractor for more than $4M for it alleged was extra work and delays caused by the railroad. We filed a counterclaim alleging that our railroad client did not delay the work and that, instead, the contractor wasted thousands of tons of ballast resources purchased by the railroad. After a two-week federal bench trial, the federal court judge agreed and awarded over $2Million in damages to our railroad client, more than $1 Million in attorney's fees through appeal. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment. So, after being sued for $4 Million, our railroad client actually recovered $4,178,121.64 after pre and post-judgment interest were added to the verdict. Balfour Beatty Rail v. Kan. City S. Ry. Co., 173 F. Supp. 3d 363 (N.D. Tex. 2016) Affirmed by the Fifth Circuit, 2018
- Bicycle Accident $1,300,000.00 Our client was struck by a car while riding his bike to his job at Steak 'N Shake in the dark. His injuries caused him to be placed in a coma and then spend months working on rehabilitation learning to walk and talk again. He continues to ride his bicycle. Because our client has a proper bike with proper lights and reflectors and even wore a reflective safety vest, we were able to convince the insurance company that its insured was 100 percent at fault. The insurance company paid its policy limits before any lawsuit was to be filed, 2016
- Commercial Trucking Accident $1,500,000.00 Our client ran into the back of dump truck while not wearing a seatbelt while traveling 78 MPH on a highway. He spent a month in a coma followed by an extended in-patient rehabilitation. We were able to show that the trucking company failed to properly equip the back of the dump truck with federally required clearance lamps and industry standard retro-reflective tape. The trucking company settled at mediation, 2019
- National Association Of Railroad Trial Counsel
Office location for Paul Oliver Wickes
5600 Tennyson Parkway
Suite 205
Plano, TX 75024
Phone: 972-473-6900
Selections
- Rising Stars: 2005
