Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

William H. Alberts has more than 30 years of trial experience in courtrooms throughout central Texas, has served on the Board of Directors of the Travis County Bar, and is a past Chair of the Family Law Section of the Travis County Bar Association.

William H. Alberts was born in Dallas, Texas in 1954. He has lived in Austin since 1972. He and his wife, a Municipal Law expert and lobbyist, have been happily married for almost 30 years. They have two children, a son working in Austin with a wonderful non-profit foundation aiding the homeless, and a daughter practicing law in Houston in the litigation section of a major national law firm. Mr. Alberts focuses his practice on trial work, both family law and general civil litigation, as well as on appellate representation.

The firm of McLeroy & Alberts P.C. was established by William H. Alberts and Frederick McLeroy in 1979. Christopher M. Benjamin joined the firm in 1995, at which time the firm became McLeroy, Alberts & Benjamin, P.C.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF LAW - JD 1984
TEXAS LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY - BA 1979 MAGNA CUM LAUDE

Rain Minns' litigation experience ranges from international arbitration in Hong Kong to Native American courts to jury trials in the United States.

After law school, Rain clerked for Chief Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas. She then became an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas, where she was recognized for her outstanding work. Rain first-chaired and obtained favorable trial and appellate verdicts in all of her cases, including the highest arbitration award in the history of her division.

Rain then spent a few years at a large law firm working on bet-the-company litigation, where any bad outcome could have destroyed the companies.

Rain graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, where she won the award for outstanding academic achievement for a Native American. She received her Juris Doctorate from Cornell University Law School in 2001, where she won academic awards and was President of the Public Interest Law Union. Rain also practiced law for the Ho-Chunk Nation's Department of Justice before the Ho-Chunk Trial and Supreme Courts. Rain was also an extern to Judge Thomas McAvoy in the Northern District of New York.

Her other relevant experience includes interning at the United States Trade Department on international taxation issues and for the D.C. Federal Circuit.

Rain Minns lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband (David), three children (Aria, Solomon, and Zoe), and Rottweiler (Tiger Lily). She is also a former Texas State Judo Champion.

I worked hard at writing this part, as it does not come easy for me; so I hope you will actually read it. I have tried over 500 jury trials,civil and criminal, and countless judge and administrative trials, motions and hearings. Over 25 of my appeals have been published. I have had two legal articles published and I have given presentations on state constitutional torts at the Montana Trial Lawyers Annual Convention. During my 21 years in Montana, I was considered one of the best DUI lawyers in the state, being hired many times to give continuing legal education classes to other lawyers on that subject. Some of my cases caused statewide changes in the law, such as:(1) the HGN eye test now denied use in DUI trials except under limited circumstances;(2 A case I handled start to finish which established a new right to sue police or anyone else, for money damages, for violating someone's rights under the Montana State Constitution;(3) Another case of mine established that police coordination tests in DUI/DWI cases are searches that violate the 4th Amendment absent a particularized suspicion of drinking and driving;(4) I had Montana's entire set of statutes plus a hundred years of practice of using ex parte Writs of Execution to search for, seize and sell peoples' personal property to pay off judgments held unconstitutional for violating due process, the 4th Amendment, and other rights; (5) I had a federal court of appeals rule a disorderly conduct statute to be unconstitutional on its face and as applied by the police and courts and won an order to stop using that statute, forever; (6) I had another federal court of appeals rule that Montana's written notice to motorists that their driver's license would be seized if they did not take a breath test to be full of constitutional violations mostly on due process grounds, and the State had to stop using it. Myself and an attorney from the Montana Attorney General's Office wrote a new notice which is basically the same one being used today. I am a 12 yr. member of the National College for DUI Defense and was recently asked to apply for the Board of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Ass'n. I do not work all the time, however. After not seeing her for 35 years, I "re-met" and married my high school sweetheart in 2004 and relocated from Red Lodge, Montana, to Austin, Texas, my home state and where I got my education. I love to fly fish, hike, jog, read, eat out or in or anywhere else,travel, play the banjo and guitar and sing music. I love good conversations and watching the Texas Longhorns. I have a beautiful 27 year old daughter. I grew up on a cattle ranch at Cut 'n Shoot, in Montgomery County, Texas. My family moved to Texas two years before the Alamo, and I have a brand certificate to prove it. My family has fought in almost every war this country has had, from the French & Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the War Between the States to World War I, World War II and the Korean War. I was taught to respect people as well as mother nature, to honor my elders, to speak the truth in all things, to treat people like I want to be treated, and to say, "Yes ma'am" and "no ma'am", "yes sir" and "no sir," and I still do.

David Gottfried is an experienced trial lawyer and mediator, concentrating his trial and mediation practice in the areas of business and real estate disputes.