A fifth generation Texan and Eagle Scout, Bill was born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas and graduated from Wichita Falls High School in 1981.  He spent parts of his junior and senior years in high school as an exchange student in Finland. In 1979-1980, Bill He graduated from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls with double majors in History and Economics.  While at MSU, he attended a foreign studies program through the University of Iowa, living in London, England and attending classes at the University of London and Cambridge University.  Bill obtained his Juris Doctor degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio in 1988.

After his graduation and licensure to practice law, He returned to Wichita Falls and North Texas to work as an Assistant District Attorney in the Wichita County District Attorney’s Office.  He left that office to establish his own practice and eventually joined the largest law firm in Wichita Falls.  His practice included Family Law, Wills & Probate, Guardianship, Criminal Defense and Banking/Commercial Litigation. During this time, Bill served as Associate Municipal Court Judge for the City of Wichita Falls and was appointed Special County Court at Law Judge to handle mental health hearings.  He also taught Criminal Law, Contracts and Civil Law courses at Vernon College in Wichita Falls in its paralegal degree program.  He met his wife Stephanie, also an attorney, in the courtroom, and they married in 1994.  Son Billy was born in 1995.  The family moved to Tyler, Texas in 1996 where Bill went to work with the Smith County Criminal District Attorney’s Office and Stephanie practiced Family Law. 

In 1998 Bill and Stephanie decided to move to a small town to raise their children.  That same year Bill was appointed Special Prosecutor for the Drug Task Force, and conducted drug prosecutions in Lamar, Fannin, Red River and Grayson Counties as well as Federal District Court - Eastern District of Texas. Son Colin was born in McCuistion Hospital in Paris in 1999.  Bill spent 3 years as the drug task force prosecutor, and Stephanie worked in the City Attorney’s Office as the municipal court prosecutor and police legal advisor.  While serving as the Drug Task, Bill first became Board Certified in Criminal Law through the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of Texas, a certification which the Board renewed in 2008.   Initial Board certification requires courtroom experience as well as passing a very difficult written exam in the subject area.   In 2001, Bill was appointed by Lamar County Attorney Mark Burtner as First Assistant County Attorney.  

In 2002, Bill was appointed Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas to handle gun, drugs and violent crime cases for the United States Attorney’s Office in Beaumont, Texas, and the Harris family reluctantly relocated to Southeast Texas.  Stephanie associated herself with Sutton & Jacobs, L.L.P., a Beaumont law firm.

In early 2007, the Harris family returned to Paris where Bill resumed his job as First Assistant County Attorney under County Attorney Gary Young, a position in which he continues to serve.  Stephanie opened a Paris office of Sutton & Jacobs, and was honored to be appointed as Associate City Judge for the City of Paris, a position to which she was reappointed in 2009.  Bill became Board Certified in the area of Juvenile Law in December of  2009.

The Harris family attends church at First United Methodist and East Paris Baptist Church.  Stephanie was a member of the 2000-2001 class of Leadership Lamar County and currently serves on the Board of Directors of that organization.  She has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Advocacy Center and is a past co-chair of the Government Division of the United Way campaign.  Billy and Colin attend schools in the Paris Independent School District and are both active in the Paris Soccer Association, in which they both play and for which Billy serves as a referee.  Billy is also active in the band.

For his part, Bill has long been involved in youth soccer in Paris, having coached several teams and served as a board member.  He is presently Secretary and Legal Advisor for the Paris Soccer Association.  Bill is currently Chairman of the Building and Standards Commission and Vice-Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission for the City of Paris.  He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Lamar County Appraisal District.  He is a member of the Leadership Lamar County class of 2009-2010.  He is very active in the Lamar County Republican Party.  He recently retired from the Friends of the Trail board (Trail de Paris).