When your family is facing the aftermath of a serious accident somewhere along I-94 between Fargo and Bismarck, or dealing with an oilfield injury in the Bakken region, the attorney you choose matters. Peer recognition from organizations like Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers does not guarantee any particular outcome, but it does tell you something real: other attorneys, the people who know this work best, have looked at these lawyers and said they stand out.
We are proud to share that several attorneys at Maring Williams Law Office have earned recognition from both Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers this year. Our firm handles personal injury claims involving catastrophic accidents, oilfield incidents, medical negligence, and wrongful death cases across North Dakota and beyond. These recognitions reflect the kind of sustained, consistent advocacy that our clients in Bismarck, Fargo, and across the state have come to rely on.
What Do Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers Actually Mean for You?
Best Lawyers employs a confidential peer review methodology to identify the most respected attorneys practicing in the United States. Prominent lawyers are asked to evaluate their peers in the same geographic regions and practice areas, providing assessments of professional skills and ethical standards. No attorney can simply pay their way onto the list. In addition to individual recognitions, Best Lawyers also awards a “Lawyer of the Year” accolade to the attorney who received the highest overall peer feedback for a specific practice area and geographic region, with only one lawyer recognized per specialty and metropolitan location per edition. That is a meaningful distinction in a state like North Dakota, where the legal community is close-knit and reputations are built over years of actual courtroom work.
Super Lawyers works differently but carries similar weight. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement, with a patented attorney selection process that is peer influenced and research driven, selecting the top 5% of attorneys to the list each year. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with independent research, and each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. There is also a “Rising Star” designation for attorneys earlier in their careers. Only 2.5% of those meeting the criteria in each state are selected as Rising Stars.
Which Maring Williams Attorneys Were Recognized?
James R. Hoy (Bismarck) received Best Lawyers recognition in three categories: Personal Injury Litigation (Plaintiffs), Commercial Litigation, and Product Liability Litigation (Plaintiffs). Jim was also named a Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for personal injury litigation in 2023, which, as noted above, goes to a single attorney per practice area per region. On the Super Lawyers side, Jim has been named a Great Plains Super Lawyer in personal injury every year since 2023, after earning Rising Star recognition from 2017 through 2021. To be clear about what that means: Super Lawyers represent the top 5% of attorneys in a given state or region, making the title a mark of distinction in the legal community. Jim also carries his commitment well beyond the courtroom. He has served as a past president of the North Dakota Association for Justice, as a past chairperson of North Dakota’s Pattern Jury Instruction Commission, and currently chairs the North Dakota Federal Practice Committee. He is also the founder and president of Kindred Hoops, a youth basketball organization in his community. That kind of civic investment says something about a person.
Lindsay Wilz (Bismarck) has earned recognition in both Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Litigation (Plaintiffs). Lindsay focuses her practice on oilfield litigation and medical negligence claims, and she is licensed in both North Dakota and Montana. Her Super Lawyers recognition stretches back to 2016, encompassing both Rising Star and Super Lawyer designations over that span. That is a long track record of peer acknowledgment in a practice area, oilfield and medical negligence, that demands real depth of knowledge.
Duane A. Lillehaug (Fargo) received Best Lawyers recognition in three categories: Personal Injury Litigation (Plaintiffs), Insurance Law, and Product Liability Litigation (Plaintiffs). He is also a recognized Great Plains Super Lawyer. Worth noting: Duane is one of a select group of North Dakota attorneys certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and he has been listed as a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation. That combination of credentials across multiple independent organizations is not common.
Kellen Bubach (Fargo) earned Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers recognition in Personal Injury Litigation (Plaintiffs). Kellen joined Maring Williams in 2020 and focuses on helping people injured in accidents and medical malpractice situations. He is licensed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska, and he serves on the State Bar Association of North Dakota’s Joint Procedure Committee. Before joining our firm, Kellen spent over eight years handling complex professional negligence cases from the defense side, which gives him a perspective on how these cases are built and challenged that genuinely benefits our clients.
What This Means If You Are Considering Hiring Our Firm
What these recognitions reflect is a pattern, not a one-time acknowledgment. Jim Hoy’s Super Lawyers recognition spans years. Lindsay Wilz’s goes back to 2016. Duane Lillehaug has earned recognition across multiple independent rating organizations. Kellen Bubach, earlier in his career, is already drawing that same level of peer acknowledgment.
We want to be straightforward here. Awards do not win cases. What wins cases is preparation, knowledge of the law, understanding of how insurance companies approach claims, and the willingness to take a fight all the way to trial when necessary. These recognitions are meaningful because they come from other attorneys who have watched our lawyers do exactly that work, across North Dakota’s courts, over many years.
If you or someone in your family has been seriously hurt, whether in a truck accident on I-29, an oilfield incident in the Williston Basin, or a medical situation that went wrong, the attorneys at Maring Williams Law Office are here to talk through your options. Every situation is different, and we are not going to make promises about outcomes. What we can tell you is that the attorneys at this firm have earned the respect of their peers in this region, and that respect was built by actually fighting for injured North Dakotans.
