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William S. Thomas, Gausnell, O’Keefe & Thomas
Staff Report//March 12, 2026//
Member, St. Louis
Longtime Gridiron writer, director and performer Bill Thomas represents design professionals — architects, engineers and surveyors — in construction litigation and arbitration. Thomas was drawn into the field early in his career when a partner at his first firm invited him onto a construction case representing a design professional; he said he liked it enough to ask to be included on every new assignment that followed.
His practice has produced several notable results, including a unanimous defense verdict after a two-week jury trial for a civil engineer, a federal case for a structural engineer in which the opposing expert was stricken and the plaintiff paid the counterclaim before trial, and a federal defendant’s verdict against the Department of Justice in a Fair Housing Act design and construct case — believed to be among the first of its kind tried in the country.
He chairs the International Association of Defense Counsel’s Construction Law and Litigation Committee and serves on the AAA’s Roster of Construction Arbitrators and Mediators.
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