Allen

Will is a member of Butler Snow’s Constitutional and Civil Rights Litigation practice group. He is an experienced trial lawyer who has devoted his career to representing public entities in civil rights and employment litigation. Will has represented counties, cities, School Districts and their employees in complex civil rights and tort matters throughout Mississippi. He also serves as general counsel for the Mississippi Sheriff’s Association, which includes Sheriffs from 82 Counties across Mississippi. He is also the Board Attorney for the Brookhaven School District. Beyond his civil rights practice, Will has defended clients in complex environmental litigation as well as premises liability claims.

• Correctional Litigation
• Governmental Litigation
• Civil Rights

• Prior to joining Butler Snow, Will worked in private practice in Birmingham, Alabama and with his grandfather and father’s firm in Brookhaven, Mississippi.
• Obtained a defense verdict from a jury pertaining to an arrestee’s death from positional asphyxia.
• Obtained a defense verdict from a jury for a Deputy Sheriff in an excessive force claim.
• Successfully defended grant of Motion for Summary Judgment in a Jail sexual assault case before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Successfully defended grant of Motion for Summary Judgment in an in-custody death case before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Successfully defended grant of Motion for Summary Judgment in a due process claim asserted by a terminated school district employee before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Successfully defended a grant of Motion for Summary Judgement in a claim for wrongful death against a Sheriff for releasing an inmate who then committed murder before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Successfully defended grant of Motion for Summary Judgment on behalf of County in an inmate assault case.
• Successfully defended grant of Motion for Summary Judgment on behalf of a City for failing to issue a liquor license.
• Extensive experience in mediation.

• Martindale-Hubbell®
  • AV®-Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated
• Super Lawyers®
  • Mid-South Super Lawyer, Civil Litigation, 2018-2023
  • Mid-South Rising Star, Civil Litigation, 2009-2014
• Best Lawyers in America®
  • Litigation – Municipal, 2018-2024
  • Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants, 2018-2024

• Mississippi, 2001
• Alabama, 1999
• U.S. District Courts
  • Mississippi: Northern, Southern
• U.S. Court of Appeals
  • 5th Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

• University of Mississippi, J.D., magna cum laude, 1999
  • Phi Kappa Phi
  • Omicron Delta Kappa
  • Mississippi Law Journal, Developmental Editor
• Samford University, B.A., History, cum laude, 1996

• Clerkship, Judge Neal Biggers, U.S. District Court, 1999

• American Bar Association
• Mississippi Bar Association
• Defense Research Institute
• Lincoln County Bar Association
• Mississippi School Board Association

• Will regularly speaks to law enforcement associations and groups including the Mississippi Sheriff’s Association, the Mississippi Judicial College, the Mississippi Supervisors Association and the Mississippi School Board Association.
• Presenter, Sexual Harassment, Mississippi Supervisors Association
• Presenter, Jail Management, Mississippi Sheriff’s Association
• Presenter, Sexual Discrimination, Mississippi School Board Association
• Presenter, Mississippi Criminal Rules, Mississippi Bar – Summer Convention
• Presenter, Overview of Gun Laws in Mississippi, Mississippi Judicial College
• Presenter, Mental Commitments, Mississippi Sheriff’s Association

• Samford University, Howard College of Arts and Sciences
  • Advisory Board Member
• Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin Regional Library
  • Board of Trustees
• Krewe of Ceres
  • Board Member
• Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce