Former head of Maryland Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Division enters private practice, deepens Goodell DeVries's bench of appellate lawyers
Renowned appellate lawyer Carrie J. Williams has joined Goodell DeVries's Appellate Practice Group.
Carrie brings extraordinary appellate expertise from her 16-year tenure at the Maryland Office of the Attorney General. There, she headed the criminal appellate division, serving as Principal Counsel for Criminal Policy and, before that, Division Chief of the Criminal Appeals Division.
As head of a State appellate division, Carrie argued more than fifty cases before the Supreme Court of Maryland (Court of Appeals) and hundreds of cases in the Appellate Court of Maryland (Court of Special Appeals). She even briefed a handful of cases at the United States Supreme Court.
"Carrie is already an appellate superstar, and we're beyond thrilled to have her join our team," said Derek Stikeleather, Chair of the firm's Appellate Practice Group. "She possesses the rare combination of being able to analyze the most legally and factually complex matters yet still present her final analysis in a plain-spoken manner that is clear, accurate, and persuasive. Not only is she well-known and widely respected in Maryland's appellate judiciary, but her immense experience allows her to immediately serve our clients both in appeals and as appellate trial counsel."
Carrie graduated in the top 2% of her class at the University of Maryland School of Law in 2003, where she served as the Maryland Law Review Articles Editor. An active member of the Maryland State Bar Association, Carrie frequently participates in panels on brief writing, oral advocacy, and developments in Maryland appellate practice. From 2014 to 2022, she taught Introduction to Advocacy as an Adjunct Faculty at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Carrie's addition should immediately strengthen the firm's growing Appellate Practice Group, which has distinguished itself with several successful challenges to "nuclear" verdicts in medical malpractice actions. In 2021, it secured JNOV on appeal to fully vacate the largest birth-injury verdict in United States history, a $229 million verdict enrolled as a $205 million final judgment. The Group has also been increasingly called upon to collaborate with trial counsel (at Goodell and other firms) to develop and preserve the most promising appellate issues. The firm's national appellate practice has also prevailed in product-liability and commercial appeals in multiple federal circuits and various state appellate courts, including those of New York and California.
