ATTORNEY ADVERTISING NOTICE. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. It was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed prior to publication by the firm profiled. All case results, recoveries, and recognitions described below are attributed to their sources. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter. This article is for general information only and is not legal advice; reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship.

REPRESENTATION DISCLOSURE. Farrow-Gillespie Heath Wilmoth represents both plaintiffs and defendants in business and commercial litigation matters, depending on the engagement. This is standard practice for a full-service commercial litigation firm and is disclosed here directly, consistent with Awesome Attorneys’ editorial policy for adversarial, non-personal-injury practice areas.

Farrow-Gillespie Heath Wilmoth: The Dallas Business Litigation Attorney Firm Co-Founded by Two Women From Big Law

Farrow-Gillespie Heath Wilmoth is a Dallas business litigation attorney practice that started in 2007 when two accomplished women lawyers decided to share office space — now an 18-attorney, majority woman-owned firm handling commercial disputes for clients from family-owned shops to the Fortune 1000.

Farrow-Gillespie Heath Wilmoth — Dallas Business Litigation Attorney At a Glance

Sources: fghwlaw.com (firm website), BCG Search, State Bar of Texas attorney directory. Compiled August 2026.

Origin: Two Women Who Shared Office Space, Then Built a Firm

Farrow-Gillespie Heath Wilmoth traces to a simple beginning: in 2007, Liza Farrow-Gillespie and Julie E. Heath — “two formidable women with highly successful law careers,” as the firm’s own history puts it — decided to share office space after years of knowing each other professionally and working together on a difficult case. That informal arrangement grew into a formal partnership and, over nearly two decades, an 18-attorney firm. Liza Farrow-Gillespie, who built the firm’s estate planning and business law practice before her death, previously served as permanent briefing attorney for the late U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders in the Northern District of Texas.

Julie Heath brought the litigation backbone: she practiced in the commercial litigation section of Baker Botts LLP’s Dallas office before running a solo employment litigation practice, then co-founding the firm. She has over 30 years of experience in federal, state, and appellate courts, and one of her jury trial wins — successfully defended on appeal — was named a “Top 10 Texas Verdict” by Texas Lawyer magazine. She has since successfully defended jury verdicts and summary judgment rulings on appeal to both the Fifth Circuit and the Dallas Court of Appeals. Partner Mary L. O’Connor focuses specifically on securities and commercial litigation, rounding out the firm’s business disputes practice beyond Heath’s employment-litigation concentration.

Where the Firm Concentrates

The firm’s litigation practice spans business and corporate law, commercial litigation, securities litigation, and employment litigation and defense, alongside separate real estate, health law, and probate litigation practices. Reported results include prevailing on all claims at summary judgment in a Dallas County contract and business tort case (June 2013), successfully defending a Fair Labor Standards Act jury verdict on appeal to the Fifth Circuit (2013), successfully defending a Whistleblower Act jury verdict on appeal (2012), and obtaining a $922,900 judgment in Whistleblower Act litigation following a jury trial (November 2010). As the disclosure above notes, the firm represents both plaintiffs and defendants across its commercial litigation matters depending on the specific engagement. Readers comparing options can see how this profile fits alongside other Business & Corporate Litigation attorneys covered on Awesome Attorneys.

Notable Work

The Texas Lawyer “Top 10 Texas Verdict” recognition tied to Heath’s jury trial win — later upheld on appeal — is the clearest independently tracked result available for this profile, distinct from the firm’s own self-reported case summaries. The other results described above (the 2013 summary judgment win, the FLSA and Whistleblower Act appellate defenses, and the 2010 judgment) are drawn from the firm’s own litigation results page and were not independently verified against court dockets for this profile; as with any litigation result, outcomes are case-specific and past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter.

Client Voice

The firm’s published client feedback includes attorney-to-attorney endorsements alongside client-facing testimonials:

“I have worked with Julie Heath for a number of years, collaborating on various kinds of employee relations matters. Julie approaches complex employment matters in a logical and straightforward manner, and she has extensive experience that lends itself to excellent problem-solving skills.” — professional colleague review, firm website

This is drawn from the firm’s own published testimonials; Awesome Attorneys did not independently verify the reviewer’s identity, a standard limitation across attorney-published testimonials. Awesome Attorneys did not locate a substantial volume of consumer-facing reviews specific to the firm’s business litigation practice and is noting that gap directly.

Beyond the Courtroom

The firm’s institutional identity is built partly around its certified status as a majority woman-owned (WBE) and historically underutilized business (HUB) — designations that matter directly to corporate clients with supplier-diversity requirements, distinct from a typical bar-committee credential. Individual attorneys’ community involvement varies; Julie Heath’s public profile centers on her litigation practice and peer recognition rather than documented board service.

Recognition

The firm’s AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell is peer-reviewed, and Heath’s inclusion in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Registry of Preeminent Women Lawyers (comprising less than 5% of women attorneys with the highest peer rating in both legal ability and ethical standards) is a similarly rigorous, peer-based distinction. Texas Super Lawyers selections (Heath: 2012–2021) are peer-nomination-based. By contrast, D Magazine’s “Best Lawyers in Dallas” placements and the firm’s WBE/HUB certifications are directory and business-classification recognitions rather than tested or peer-juried credentials — genuine and useful, but a different tier than the peer-review ratings above. Notably, none of the litigation-focused partners profiled here hold a TBLS board certification in Civil Trial Law or Business/Commercial Litigation specifically; the firm’s other attorneys do hold TBLS certifications in different specialties (Health Law, Personal Injury Trial Law, and Estate Planning & Probate), and this profile makes no certification claim for the business litigation practice beyond what’s stated here.

Texas Legal Backdrop

Readers considering Texas business or commercial litigation should understand a few structural rules, presented as general information and not legal advice. Breach of contract claims in Texas generally carry a four-year statute of limitations (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004), while most business tort claims (fraud, breach of fiduciary duty) also fall under that same four-year window, though some torts carry a shorter two-year period — the specific claim type matters. Texas recognizes the economic loss rule, which can limit a party’s ability to recast a contract dispute as a tort claim. Businesses facing securities litigation should be aware that both federal securities law and the Texas Securities Act may apply depending on the transaction, with different limitations periods and elements. Texas also has a specialized Business Court, created by recent legislation, which now handles certain complex commercial disputes above a jurisdictional threshold — a relatively new venue option relevant to sophisticated commercial litigation specifically.

Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Farrow-Gillespie Heath Wilmoth’s differentiator is a genuinely broad commercial litigation bench inside a mid-sized, majority woman-owned firm — Heath’s three decades of trial and appellate experience (including a Top 10 Texas Verdict), O’Connor’s securities litigation specialty, and a WBE/HUB certification that matters directly to corporate clients with supplier-diversity programs. For a business facing a genuine commercial dispute who wants big-firm litigation pedigree (Baker Botts training) in a mid-sized firm’s setting, that combination is a real fit.

The honest trade-off is specialization depth: none of the firm’s litigation partners hold a TBLS board certification specifically in civil trial or business litigation, and Heath’s strongest individually documented track record runs through employment litigation specifically rather than general commercial disputes. A business with a matter that’s purely a complex commercial dispute, with no employment dimension, may want to confirm directly which attorney would lead the case and their specific track record in that exact type of dispute before retaining the firm.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team in August 2026. Primary source: the firm’s own published website (fghwlaw.com), including its firm history, attorney biography pages, and litigation results page. Secondary sources: BCG Search’s firm ranking page and the State Bar of Texas’s public attorney directory, which showed no public disciplinary history for Julie E. Heath. The firm did not commission, pay for, or pre-approve this article. All credentials and claims are attributed to their sources; past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. This article is general information, not legal advice.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Facts, figures, and claims in this profile were independently researched from public sources as described in the Methodology & Sourcing section above and are current only as of the research date; they are subject to change without notice, and readers should confirm any detail directly with the firm before relying on it. This notice supplements, and does not replace, the Attorney Advertising Notice at the top of this profile.