William James Derrick

William J. Derrick, born March 24, 1934, passed away peacefully November 24, 2021. The Funeral Service will be at the Martin Funeral Home at 128 N. Resler, El Paso Texas at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, December 8th, 2021. He graduated from Austin High School and received his Bachelor of Arts and Law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. While at the university, he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta social fraternity, the Texas Cowboys Honorary Service Organization, and Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. Upon graduation from law school, he served in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate Corps attaining the rank of captain. After his honorable discharge from the Air Force, he joined the firm of Kemp, Smith, Duncan and Hammond in El Paso, Texas and was later made a partner in that firm. He was active in the Texas Bar Association serving as the first chairman of the State Bar Committee on Legal Specialization and was a member of the American Bar Association Special Committee on Specialization. He was instrumental in drafting and obtaining Supreme Court approval of the Texas plan for legal specialization. He was a life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. His law practice centered around construction law and civil litigation. He was admitted to practice in the US Supreme Court, the Texas Supreme Court and all Texas courts, the US Court of Federal Claims, the United States Courts of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and 10th Circuit, and the United States District Courts in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana and Mississippi. He also appeared before the Corps of Engineers and GSA Boards of Contract Appeals in Louisiana, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. and before the Texas Public Utilities Commission in Austin. He served as an arbitrator and mediator for the American Arbitration Association, the Dispute Resolution Center of Duke University, Texas Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. and as an independent arbitrator and mediator. His civic activities in El Paso included a member and president of the Board of Trustees of the El Paso Museum of Art, as well as serving as a director on several corporate boards, including MBank Bassett and the Leavell Company. In 1979, he formed Derrick & Schaefer, Inc. with John M. Schaefer of San Antonio. Derrick & Schaefer conceived, designed and developed Estancias Coronado, Acacia Park, commercial property on Mesa Street and other residential and commercial developments. He was also a partner in apartment developments in El Paso, San Antonio, and Odessa. After serving of counsel with the Kemp-Smith law firm, Mr. Derrick started his own practice in 1996 and continued his practice until he retired. He was a member of St. Francis on the Hill Episcopal and later Anglican Church for which he served on the vestry.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MartinFuneralHomeWest.com for the Derrick family.