Gerald Williams

Biography: Gerald Williams

One of the founding partners of Williams Cedar, Jerry Williams concentrates on environmental toxic tort cases, whistleblower claims, and civil rights violations, as well as complex personal injury cases. His legal career spans thirty-five years during which time he has practiced law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where he earned some of the highest honors in the legal community. After graduating from Temple University School of Law in 1982, he was an associate at a Philadelphia law firm before starting his own practice in 1983. He has received the “AV Preeminent” rating, the highest rating given, from legal publisher Martindale-Hubbell. In addition, he has been named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer each consecutive year since 2006 for environmental litigation.

Mr. Williams has won significant verdicts and settlements for plaintiffs in civil rights and environmental tort cases in many courts, including Merry v. Westinghouse, which established medical monitoring as a remedy under Pennsylvania common law, and Ambrogi v. Gould, the first case to hold medical monitoring available under Pennsylvania’s Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act.

Mr. Williams and two Williams Cedar colleagues, Beth Cole and Christopher Markos, were honored at a reception hosted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s Prisoner Civil Rights Panel.  They were presented certificates of appreciation by the Honorable Judge M. Faith Angell for their service in representing hundreds of prisoners in claims that they were injured as a result of unconstitutional conditions of the Philadelphia Prison System. Judge Angell noted that between 2011 and 2014, the attorneys accepted judicial appointments to represent more than 900 former pro se plaintiffs and resolved the vast majority of the cases, with more than 500 resulting in individual settlements with the city and private medical providers.

Before his legal career, Mr. Williams held positions in the fields of mental health and social work, serving as director of research and evaluation at the Benjamin Rush Center and as an evaluation analyst at St. Luke’s and Children’s Medical Center in Philadelphia. This background has been especially helpful in his work with the families of injured or abused children.

Mr. Williams continues his lifelong involvement in amateur baseball and is still an active player in the John DeBenedictis Men’s Senior Baseball League.

Background & Qualifications

Below is an overview of Jerry’s background and qualifications.

Education

• Temple University School of Law, Evening Division, 1982
• University of Pittsburgh, M.A.,1976
• St. Joseph’s College, B.S., cum laude, 1973

Bar Admissions

• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• New York
• United States Supreme Court
• U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

Associations & Affiliations

• National Trial Lawyers Association
• New Jersey Association for Justice
• American Association for Justice
• Bar Associations in New York and Pennsylvania

Work History

• Founding Partner, Williams Cedar, 2017 – Present
• Founding Partner, Williams Cuker Berezofsky, 1989-2017
• Partner, Slap, Williams & Cuker, 1984-1989
• Associate, Wapner, Newman & Associates, 1982-1983
• Law Clerk, Wapner, Newman & Associates, 1980-1982
• Director, Research & Evaluation, Benjamin Rush Center, 1977-1980
• Evaluation Analyst, St. Luke’s Medical Center, 1975-1977
• Research Assistant, Diagnostic & Rehabilitation Center, 1973-1974

Awards & Recognitions

• Pennsylvania Super Lawyer: 2006-present
• “AV Preeminent” Rating, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory: 1996-present
• America’s Preeminent Lawyers
• National Association of Distinguished Counsel’s List of the Nation’s Top One Percent, 2016

Publications

• See Curriculum Vitae

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