Douglas R. Williams was raised in a military family. After retiring from the armed forces, his father sailed as the chief medical officer with many of the most popular cruise lines, including Holland America Line, Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line. When not in school, Doug spent a good part of his youth in the crew quarters sailing with his father on cruise ships. He developed a practical knowledge of the maritime industry from a young age.

Doug attended Washington & Lee University in Virginia where he studied history and played NCAA football. He went on to earn his Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from Florida State University. As a law student, Doug was a Book Award Recipient, an honor granted to the student with the highest grade in Admiralty Law, Civil Practice, and Sports Law.

He graduated in the top ten percent of his law school class and was admitted into the Order of the Coif. Doug spent the majority of his final year of law school clerking for Judge Padovano of the Florida First District Court of Appeal.

Out of law school, Doug accepted a position in Tampa, Florida, with the leading maritime litigation firm in the Southeast. Doug handled commercial disputes, such as actions on charter parties, enforcement of maritime liens, vessel attachments, and arrests, but his practice primarily focused on the defense of casualty lawsuits.

Doug’s work took him to various ports on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean to investigate accidents on behalf of ship-owners. During his tenure in Tampa, Doug had published an opinion dealing with the enforceability of venue provisions in seamen’s employment contracts, U.S. United Barge Lines v. Hagan, and worked on the most important seamen’s case to reach the United States Supreme Court in the last thirty years, Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend.  The Townsend case equips injured seamen with the punitive damage remedy for shipowners’ willful and wanton disregard of their maintenance and cure obligation.

In 2011, Doug and his wife relocated to Washington state. Doug joined a downtown Seattle maritime firm where he defended Seattle-based commercial fishing companies and cruise lines against personal injury and wrongful death claims.

Doug joined Anderson Carey Williams & Neidzwski in 2012. He now devotes his practice to the representation of injured seamen.

Education

  • J.D., Florida State University College of Law, 2005

Magna Cum Laude

  • B.A., Washington & Lee University, 2000

Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice

  • Supreme Court of the United States, 2009
  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2011
  • Western District of Washington, 2011
  • Washington D.C., 2011
  • Washington, 2011
  • Middle District of Florida, 2005
  • Southern District of Florida, 2022
  • Florida, 2005

Previous Employment

  • Associate attorney at Nielsen Shields, PLLC in Seattle, WA
  • Associate attorney at Lau, Lane, Pieper, Conley & McCreadie, PA in Tampa, FL
  • Clerk to Judge Philip J. Padovano of the Florida First District Court of Appeal

Professional Associations and Awards

  • Super Lawyers-Rising Star 2015
  • Super Lawyers-Rising Star 2014
  • Whatcom County Bar Association
  • Maritime Law Association of the United States
  • American Bar Association
  • Washington State Association for Justice, Chair of Maritime Section
  • Order of the Coif
  • Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law
  • Book Award recipient in Admiralty Law, Civil Practice and Sports Law

Representative Cases

  • Southard v. Ballard Marine Constr., Inc., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 150938 (W.D. Wash. 2020)
  • Southard v. Ballard Marine Constr., Inc., 458 F. Supp. 3d 1298 (W.D. Wash. 2020)
  • Huguley v. Cape Lookout, Inc., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87912 (D. Or. 2019)
  • Huguley v. Cape Lookout, Inc., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81595 (D. Or. 2019)
  • Nye v. Viking Spirit, Inc., 2018 WL 3130381 (D. Alaska 2018)
  • Nye v. Viking Spirit, Inc., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19254 (D. Alaska 2018)
  • Hottmann v. Hatch, 2017 WL 598764 (D. Or. 2017)
  • Hottmann v. Hatch, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 184101 (D. Or. 2016)
  • Hottmann v. Hatch, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200383 (D. Or. 2016)
  • Leloff v. Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products, Ltd., 2016 AMC 1752, 2016 WL 3457166 (D. Or. 2016)
  • Zimmerman v. F/V Leslie Lee, Inc., 2015 WL 80419958 (D. Or. 2015)
  • Tucker v. Cascade General and the United States of America, 2015 AMC 1302, 2015 WL 566452 (D. Or. 2015)
  • Tucker v. Cascade General and United States of America, 2014 WL 6085829 (D. Or. 2014)
  • REC Boats, LLC v. RP/PHL Marine Leasing, Inc., 2012 WL 6725838 (D. Or. 2012)
  • Barrette v. Jubilee Fisheries, Inc., 2011 WL 3516061 (W.D. Wash. 2011)
  • TECO Barge Line, Inc. and U.S. United Barge Line, LLC v. Hagan, 15 So. 3d 863 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2009)