William was born in Alexandria, Louisiana in 1955. William went to undergraduate school at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Southern University School of Law where he graduated, cum laude, and was admitted to the Louisiana Bar in 1990 and the Texas Bar in 2002.

Prior to entering the legal field, William spent 10 years working in the private sector as a farmer and a real estate broker. He began his career with Neblett, Beard & Arsenault in 1989 as a law clerk and then as an attorney in 1990, practicing primarily in personal injury, admiralty and maritime law, medical malpractice and nursing home negligence. He is admitted to practice in all state courts in Louisiana, along with Eastern, Western and Middle Districts of the U.S. District Court of Louisiana. He is also admitted to practice in the state courts of Texas, along with the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

William is a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association in which he was previously a member of the Medical/Legal Interprofessional Committee, as well as a member of the House of Delegates. He is also a member of the Alexandria Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association, Association of the Trial Lawyers of America, and the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, of which he was a past member of the Board of Governors.

William is married to the former Kathy Blanchard. They have three children, Will, Katie and Taylor.