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Tracy Willi: Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law, Not Estate Planning — And That’s the Point

Most estate planning attorneys who hold Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification are certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law specifically. Tracy Willi’s certification is in Civil Appellate Law — an unusual credential for someone whose day-to-day practice is estate planning, but one that directly explains the firm’s specific strength in contested probate, will contests, and estate litigation that ends up before a Texas court of appeals, work that a purely transactional estate planner typically has to refer out.

Origin and Background

Tracy J. Willi has been licensed to practice law in Texas since 1992 and has been board certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 2001. She is admitted to practice before all Texas courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, and Federal Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas — an unusually broad set of federal admissions, including the Federal Circuit, which handles patent appeals; she is also registered to practice patent law before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. She has been selected to Super Lawyers every year since 2009. Her husband and law partner, James N. Willi, also practices at the firm, which the firm’s own materials describe as jointly attentive and thorough. Willi served as Chair of the State Bar of Texas’s Women in the Profession Committee from 2003 to 2005.

Practice Concentration

The firm practices estate planning, wills, living trusts, firearms (NFA) trusts, powers of attorney, probate and estate administration, trust administration, special needs trusts, disability and Medicaid planning, elder law, charitable and estate tax planning, business succession planning, and asset protection — plus, distinctively, estate and trust litigation and civil appeals, litigated matters involving guardianships, trusts, will contests, heirship disputes, and probate-related real estate divisions. That combination of transactional estate planning and appellate litigation capability under one roof is uncommon; most firms in this Estate Planning & Probate directory refer contested appellate matters elsewhere.

Notable Work / Track Record

As is standard for estate planning practices, the firm does not publish a comprehensive verdict table for its transactional work, since that work doesn’t generate case outcomes in the traditional sense. Awesome Attorneys is disclosing that gap rather than substituting marketing language for it. What is independently verifiable is Willi’s specific litigated experience in guardianships, will contests, heirship disputes, and probate real estate divisions — a documented litigation practice most estate planning attorneys don’t maintain alongside their transactional work.

Client Voice

The firm’s reviews are consistently positive across Yelp, Birdeye, and Google, with recurring praise for responsiveness on time-sensitive matters (including same-day service on firearms trust requests) and for patient, unhurried client communication. One client wrote that Willi Law Firm “did a thorough and professional job of helping us work through how we wanted to handle these matters” during her late husband’s declining health, adding that the firm’s estate planning binder “helped me so much” during the subsequent transition. A separate independent review-summary analysis specifically noted that a small number of clients felt fees on the higher end for the market — Awesome Attorneys is disclosing that directly rather than omitting it, alongside the otherwise strongly positive review pattern.

Beyond the Courtroom

Willi’s registration to practice patent law before the USPTO is a specific, uncommon credential for an estate planning practice, relevant to clients whose estates include intellectual property assets that need to be accounted for and transferred correctly. Her long tenure as a Super Lawyer (continuously since 2009) and active membership in the Austin Bar Association’s Civil Appellate Section reflect sustained professional standing beyond client-facing work.

Recognition for This Austin Estate Planning Attorney

Peer-reviewed and third-party credentials: board certification in Civil Appellate Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, held since 2001, and continuous Super Lawyers recognition since 2009 — 16 consecutive years. Awesome Attorneys notes this attorney’s board certification is in appellate law specifically rather than estate planning and probate law, and is stating that distinction directly rather than letting it be assumed, since the two TBLS specialties are separately earned credentials.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Firearms (NFA) trusts — a specific service this firm offers — are specialized legal instruments used to hold National Firearms Act-regulated items (like suppressors or short-barreled rifles) in a way that allows multiple trustees to legally possess the items without each individually undergoing a separate ATF approval process for every transfer, a niche area of estate planning that intersects federal firearms law with standard trust law. Will contests in Texas, an area of Willi’s litigated experience, generally must be filed within two years of a will’s admission to probate under Texas Estates Code § 256.204, with limited exceptions for fraud or forgery. None of this is legal advice; a specific firearms trust or will contest matter should be evaluated by a licensed attorney based on the actual facts and assets involved.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Willi’s clearest, most specific differentiator is the combination of transactional estate planning with genuine, board-certified appellate litigation capability — a rare pairing that matters specifically when an estate plan is later contested or when a probate matter escalates into litigation, since the same firm can carry the matter through rather than handing it off. The honest trade-off, disclosed by independent review analysis, is that some clients have found fees on the higher end, which is worth asking about directly during an initial consultation given the firm’s specialized, broader-than-typical service scope. For a family whose estate planning needs might reasonably escalate into litigation — a blended family with contest risk, a firearms collection requiring specialized trust structuring, or a guardianship matter — that litigation-capable structure is a genuine reason for inclusion on a shortlist. For a simple, uncontested estate plan, a lower-cost general practice firm may be sufficient.

Methodology and Sourcing

This profile was researched from Willi Law Firm, P.C.’s official website (atxelderlaw.com and atxestateplanning.com), Tracy J. Willi’s Avvo and Super Lawyers attorney profiles, the firm’s Yelp, Birdeye, and Google review pages, a third-party review-aggregator summary, and the Texas Board of Legal Specialization’s public certification standards. Client quotes are reproduced from publicly posted, attributed reviews.

Publisher Disclosure and Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by Tracy Willi or Willi Law Firm, P.C. prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placement products to attorneys and firms, including this one, but sponsorship has no bearing on the editorial content, inclusion, or findings of this profile.