Mr. Willson co-supervises the litigation teams at Bodie that focus on the defense of long-term care institutions and medical malpractice defense. Before becoming a partner of the Firm, Mr. Willson was a senior attorney at an international insurance law firm and then was a partner with Eccleston & Wolf for over ten years. Throughout his career, Mr. Willson has concentrated his practice in a wide variety of insurance defense matters, including professional liability, nursing home defense, and toxic tort litigation. Mr. Wilson is also a proud kidney donor!
Mr. Willson has had an AV preeminent rating for more than 25 years from Martindale-Hubbell. He has successfully tried numerous multi-million dollar cases before the toughest jury panels in Maryland and has represented nursing homes, doctors, nurses, administrators, and other health care providers in complex liability cases, as well as licensing matters. He has also represented lawyers, insurance agents, corporations, accountants and other professionals in a wide variety of insurance defense matters. He has tried and won high exposure cases before juries in Baltimore City. He has successfully represented both billion dollar corporations and the disadvantaged in numerous litigation matters. Mr. Willson is a frequent lecturer to the long-term care profession and insurance industry on risk management and avoidance.
Mr. Willson began practicing law in 1984 and is a member of the Maryland Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, and the Defense Research Institute (DRI). He has been admitted to the bar in California (1983); the District of Columbia (1990); Maryland and the U.S. District Court of Maryland (1991); and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit (1996). Mr. Willson was responsible for trying to verdict and arguing on appeal the seminal decision of the Maryland Court of Appeals in Thomas v. Bethea, 351 Md. 513, 718 A.2d 1187 (1998).
Mr. Willson is a summa cum laude graduate of the California State University at Dominguez Hills (B.A., 1980) and the University of North Dakota (J.D., with distinction 1983). He served as Senior Editor of the North Dakota Law Review. He also won major trial competitions during law school which enabled him to successfully try and win multi-million dollar jury cases early in his career as a lawyer. He was also selected as a member of Baltimore SmartCEO’s Legal Elite in Maryland.