Bill Lunsford Bio

Bill Lunsford is an attorney with the law firm of Maynard Cooper & Gale, P.C. who specializes in representing and advising agencies, private corporations and individual operators in the corrections environment.  Throughout his career, Bill has represented directors of corrections, correctional officers, vendors as well as clinicians and nurses providing medical and mental health care in a prison setting.  Bill leads a team of attorneys and professional staff who have engaged in litigation in federal and state courts involving correctional systems and issues arising out of prison operations across the United States (including litigation brought by public interest groups as well as the Department of Justice).

His corrections practice focuses largely upon defending clients in class actions, civil rights litigation, disputes over constitutional requirements applicable to the conditions of confinement and the resolution of consent decrees and court-ordered monitoring. With the assistance of his team, Bill has tried to completion and resolved pending and threatened prison class actions involving correctional staffing, the provision of medical and mental health care, offender classification systems, disability discrimination claims and restrictive housing.  In addition to assisting clients with pending and threatened litigation, he also advises correctional clients on risk management and avoidance, pre-litigation planning and alternative dispute resolution methods such as mediation.  Finally, Bill regularly advises clients on compliance and liability issues related to the national correctional standards and practices (including standards and policy guidance provided by the American Correctional Association, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and the National Institute of Corrections).  Bill earned his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from Samford University.

In 2018, CLA retained Bill as Special Counsel to the Association. In this role, he provides legal guidance and training to CLA and its membership on emerging legal issues and trends in corrections and provides legal advice to CLA as part of its on-going operations.