John Boundas

John Boundas, name partner at Williams Hart & Boundas in Houston, has spent two decades doing some of the most technically demanding plaintiff’s work in the country: representing people harmed by prescription drugs and toxic substances, most notably children born with serious birth defects after in-utero drug exposure. Among Houston injury lawyers, his defining credential is his appointment as Co-Lead Counsel in the In re Depakote Litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois — national leadership that no local settlement practice can claim.

The Depakote results speak plainly. John and the Williams Hart & Boundas trial team tried individual jury cases for children injured by the drug and won a $38 million verdict that was unanimously affirmed on appeal, followed by a $15 million verdict that settled while on appeal — outcomes that ultimately drove the resolution of the entire litigation. More recently, he served on a trial team that won a $3.5 million verdict for a client injured by exposure to Roundup weedkiller. He describes securing compensation for children across the country living with life-altering birth defects as the most gratifying work of his career.

His pedigree is elite by any measure. After the University of Michigan, John graduated first in his class from the University of Iowa College of Law, interned at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington — where his performance was rated ‘outstanding’ — and clerked for Judge Milton I. Shadur in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, his hometown, where his father also practices law. He then posted the second-highest score in the state on the Texas bar exam and joined Fulbright & Jaworski, litigating trademark, securities, and antitrust matters and winning pro bono civil rights trials before deciding he wanted to represent individuals rather than corporations.

There is also a personal dimension few lawyers share with their clients: John is a cancer survivor. He was diagnosed mid-trial in Philadelphia; his partners finished the trial with a victory while he underwent surgery, and after months of chemotherapy and radiation he made a full recovery — an experience he credits with sharpening his perspective on why people should never be hurt so companies can cut corners for profit. He holds his father and Judge Shadur as models of doing the work with integrity, at all times.

John is the attorney to call for families whose child suffered birth defects linked to a prescription drug, victims of toxic chemical or herbicide exposure, and anyone facing a pharmaceutical or corporate defendant in high-stakes litigation. Consultations at the firm are free, and cases are handled on contingency.