(March 6, 1929 - June 7, 2018)
For over 60 years with our firm, Bill served his clients and our community with wise counsel and integrity.He represented both large and small, rich and poor, with equal effort and respect, while always maintaining the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession. He successfully represented clients in many fields, including real estate, oil and gas, estate planning and probate, and corporate law throughout West Texas and New Mexico.Indeed, for decades, he was one of the few El Paso lawyers licensed to practice law in New Mexico.Bill is also one of the very few El Paso lawyers to have argued a case before the United States Supreme Court and to do so successfully. Additionally, he received many legal accolades throughout his long and storied career.
Bill's life is a reminder of the opportunities available to those who combine hard work with natural talents.Coming from a very small town in the Texas Panhandle, he worked in the cotton fields, and later in the oil fields as a roughneck.The first of his family to attend college, he attended the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now NMSU) on a football scholarship, earning his B.S. in 1952. Upon graduation he became an assistant football coach at the school, before joining the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army as a paratrooper.After completing his military service, Bill entered law school at the University of Texas in Austin, graduating with honors in 1957 as a member of the Texas Law Review. Based upon personal recommendation of the nationally-renowned Dean Page Keeton, upon graduation, Bill was hired by El Paso law firm of Hardie, Grambling, Sims and Feuille, now known as Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan.
Bill soon became a leader of the law firm, which is one of the oldest and largest in El Paso.He was a legend in the local legal community.His considerable talents and judgment were tied to an outstanding work ethic.
Bill carried that work ethic to his daily workouts at the YMCA, impressing much younger men with his superior fitness, into his 70s and even 80s.
We honor and salute Bill Mounce. We shall miss him.