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page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-08-22"
---

# Bill Gillespie Whitehill

First Business Court Division · Business Court Judge (Seat 1B)

## Profile

- Court: First Business Court Division
- State: Texas
- Role: Business Court Judge (Seat 1B)
- Service status: active
- Last verified: 2026-08-22

## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.txcourts.gov/businesscourt/divisions/)
- [Official roster](https://www.txcourts.gov/businesscourt/divisions/)
- [Texas Judicial Branch, Business Court Divisions official judicial roster](https://www.txcourts.gov/businesscourt/divisions/)

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## Biography

### Professional career

- Texas Business Court – Inaugural Judge, First Division, Dallas (2024–present)
- Bill Whitehill is the inaugural Judge of the Texas Business Court’s First Division (Division 1B) in Dallas, appointed by Governor Greg Abbott in September 2024

### Education


### Additional information

- Reappointed in 2026
- Judge Whitehill presides over complex commercial cases in the Texas Business Court, the state’s specialized division for high‐value, business‐related litigation.
- Judge Whitehill has been noted for enforcing contractual punitive‐damages waivers between sophisticated commercial parties, even in fiduciary relationships, interpreting statutory protections narrowly when waivers leave compensatory and equitable remedies intact



## Published courtroom rules

### Shared court rules

- [Texas Business Court Rule 354(a) — pleading requirements](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-0e434f10523c85311cc1b033) — Texas Business Court actions only. Partial reader capture; links to full official PDF. Shared baseline only, not a judge-specific preference or complete local rules inventory. Apply source exceptions, case-type limits, later amendments and case orders. [Official source](https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1463426/texas-rules-of-civil-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.