William W. Horton, Esquire 

Bill Horton is a member of Johnston Barton’s Healthcare and Business and & Tax Practice Teams, where his primary focus is on the representation of healthcare providers, financial services organizations, and other business enterprises in the areas of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, securities and corporate finance law, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance matters. Before joining Johnston Barton in October 2011, Horton practiced as a member of another Birmingham-based law firm and as general counsel of one of the nation’s largest publicly traded healthcare providers.

With substantial experience both in private practice and as senior legal officer for a large public company, Horton has been involved in some of the largest corporate finance and acquisition transactions in the healthcare services industry. His background includes representation of issuers in securities offerings and periodic reporting, representation of borrowers in complex financing transactions, counseling physicians and institutional healthcare providers on regulatory compliance, and representation of healthcare enterprises, financial services businesses, and other business clients in corporate governance matters, acquisition and divestiture transactions, joint ventures, and other business transactions. He also has extensive experience in government and internal investigations.

Horton graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1982 and received his law degree in 1985 from Duke University, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Duke Legal Research Program and was a research assistant to Professor Clark C. Havighurst, director of Duke Law School’s Program on Legal Issues in Healthcare. From 1985 through 1986, he was a law clerk to U.S. District Judge James H. Hancock, Northern District of Alabama.

A nationally recognized speaker and author on healthcare, corporate and securities law and professional responsibility topics, Horton has held leadership positions for several years with both the American Health Lawyers Association, where he currently serves as Chair of the Business Law & Governance Practice Group, and the American Bar Association’s Health Law Section, where he currently serves on the council. Horton is a contributing author to Healthcare Fraud and Abuse: Practical Perspectives and to the 2009 and 2011 editions of Health Law Handbook, and his articles have appeared in The Business Lawyer, Journal of Health & Life Sciences Law, BNA’s Corporate Accountability Report, BNA’s Health Law Reporter, and other publications. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of AHLA’s Federal Healthcare Laws and Regulations. Horton is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® (Healthcare Law, Corporate Governance Law, Corporate Compliance Law, Securities/Capital Markets Law, and Securities Regulation), and in Alabama Super Lawyers and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama School of Law.