TBCblog

Comprehensive coverage of the Texas Business Court

Operated by

Reese Marketos LLP

Dallas, Texas  ·  Complex Commercial Litigation

← The Bench
Portrait of Hon. Bill Whitehill

Hon. Bill Whitehill

Judge · Seat 1B

Texas Business Court · First Business Court Division (Dallas)

Biography

Bill Whitehill is an inaugural Judge of the Texas Business Court First Division, Dallas. He came to the Court from Condon Tobin Sladek Thornton Nerenberg PLLC, where he was a member and led the firm’s Appellate Section. Before joining the Business Court, Bill served as a Justice on the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals, where he authored over 600 substantive opinions. Bill was an associate and partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP, now known as Foley & Lardner, LLP for thirty-three years. At Gardere, he handled commercial, antitrust, securities, intellectual property, and fiduciary trials and appeals. He is a sustaining life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, and fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation. He is a homeless kitchen volunteer for Cornerstone Baptist Church and is a former co-teacher and mentor at Cornerstone Crossroads Academy. Bill received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor with honors from the SMU Dedman School of Law and an Order of the Coif member.

Source: txcourts.gov

Opinions by Judge Whitehill (1)

Work Product Doctrine ×
2026 Tex. Bus. 47 Discovery July 16, 2026

Work Product Doctrine Does Not Protect Non-Lawyer Notes Lacking Attorney Mental Impressions

In Synergy Thermogen v. Blackbrush Oil & Gas, the Business Court held that notes of a telephone call between plaintiff's former employee and defendant's non-lawyer representatives are neither core nor protected noncore work product where they contain only factual summaries without attorney mental impressions and the requesting party demonstrated substantial need and undue hardship. The decision clarifies that even when an attorney directs a non-representative to take notes, the work product doctrine does not shield purely factual recitations from discovery.

Mem. Op. Discovery Disputes Work Product Doctrine Rule 192.5 Attorney-Client Privilege In Camera Review Opinion PDF ↓