Deborah Williamson serves as the leader of Dykema's Financial Review Committee and has practiced insolvency and restructuring law for over 30 years. She has been named a leader in her field by Chambers USA since 2003 and most recently, in the 2021 edition, clients stated Ms. Williamson “is a deal cutter, she is a powerhouse and a formidable adversary." She was previously selected for inclusion by Texas Super Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Texas (regardless of practice), as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas and she has been named as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Central Texas since the honor’s inception.

Ms. Williamson is regularly called on by clients in a variety of industries for her bankruptcy experience and advice regarding counter-party risk. She served as one of the 19 members of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Bankruptcy Reform Commission. She was the second recipient of the ABI’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, Ms. Williamson received a lifetime achievement award from the San Antonio Business Journal. Based in San Antonio, she travels frequently around Texas, the United States, and the world to address colleagues and counsel clients on bankruptcy issues and trends.

In 2016, Williamson authored the second edition of When Gushers Go Dry, The Essentials of Oil & Gas Bankruptcy to address new realities in the oil fields, the first guide to oil and gas bankruptcy. She had previously co-authored Bankruptcy Litigation for the Commercial Litigator. Ms. Williamson has been named a leader in her field by Chambers USA since 2003, previously selected for inclusion by Texas Super Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Texas (regardless of practice), as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas and she has been named as one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Central Texas since the honor’s inception. Named one of The Best Lawyers in America© consecutively for over two decades. She has served as Co-Chair of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association and Chair of the SBOT Bankruptcy Law Section. Ms. Williamson formerly served as Managing Director of Cox Smith prior to its combination with Dykema and was responsible for guiding and shaping the firm's business and client service strategies.

Bar Admissions

Texas, 1982

Education

• University of Houston Law Center, J.D., cum laude, 1981
• The University of Texas at El Paso, B.A., with honors, 1977