Ellen Williamson

Ellen Williamson’s role as a lawyer and owner of a small law firm is, in many ways, a reflection of the family that formed her. Her father is a lawyer. Her mother was a teacher. And her grandfather owned a small car dealership where he measured success not by how many cars he sold, but by whether a customer came back and told others of their good experience. He used to say he didn’t want to sell someone one car; he wanted to provide such good service that he’d sell them seven over the course of the relationship. Ellen grew up watching what that looked like in practice, and it’s hard to miss the throughline in how she runs her firm today. 

After earning her J.D. from SMU Dedman School of Law in 2004, she spent over seven years inside the SBA’s disaster loan processing center. She wasn’t learning probate law there, but she was getting relentless practice at something that turned out to matter just as much: explaining complicated legal processes to overwhelmed people for whom this was the most important and stressful thing happening in their lives. Disaster loan applicants needed clear, compassionate guidance through a process they never wanted to be in. As it turns out, so do many of the clients who walk into a probate attorney’s office.  

In 2013, she founded Ellen Williamson Law, PC in Dallas, a boutique five-person practice focused exclusively on estate planning, probate, and guardianship. She’s a member of the inaugural class of the Dallas Probate American Inn of Court, has been recognized by Super Lawyers, and offers flat-fee billing — something she considers a signal of experience, not just a convenience for clients. Lately, she’s been deep in the work of figuring out how AI and process-building can change what’s actually possible for a small firm. She lives in Dallas with her family and when not working, can usually be found running, cooking, or planning the family’s next big adventure.