The law firm of Olson & Olson has concentrated its practice in the area of municipal law since its inception. William A. Olson (“Bill”), the firm’s founder, began representing Texas cities immediately following his graduation from Baylor Law School in 1950. In 1959, he was appointed as the first general counsel of the newly reorganized Texas Municipal League, serving in that capacity until 1963. Later, during a short stint in private practice in Austin, he represented Hank Avery in the case of Avery vs. Midland County (a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that extended the one-man one-vote rule to local government). From 1966 to 1974, Bill served as City Attorney of the City of Houston. In January 1974 he opened a private practice in Houston as William A. Olson, Attorney at Law. Within two months, he had been retained as general counsel by two area municipalities. The practice became “Olson & Olson” in October 1974 when his older son, William A. Olson, Jr., left a law practice in Waco to join his father in Houston. His younger son, John F. Olson joined the firm in June 1977. In the years that followed, the firm actively recruited lawyers with substantial experience in representing the interest of local government. In 1984, Kenneth E. Wall resigned his position as City Attorney of the City of Beaumont to join the firm and add to its expertise in local government law. Others followed, including Scott Bounds, whose experience includes service as City Attorney for the cities of Baytown and Huntsville, John J. Hightower whose experience includes service as Chief of the Litigation Section for the City of Houston, and Art Pertile whose experience includes service as City Attorney of Waco.
The firm continues to follow in its founder’s footsteps, concentrating its practice in providing quality legal services to cities, counties, special districts, and other units of local government and their elected and appointed officials. As recently as 2016, the firm’s leadership role in the area of local government law was recognized by U.S News & World Reports which named Olson & Olson, LLP as a Tier 1 Law firm in the practice area of Litigation – Municipal.
