William J. Brotherton is a former brakeman, conductor and trainmaster. Hired on the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1979 as a brakeman, he worked out of Grand Forks and Minot, North Dakota, Staples and Dilworth, Minnesota and Alliance, Nebraska. He worked freight trains throughout North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota.

In 1981, he was promoted to trainmaster with the Colorado & Southern Railroad, a Burlington Northern subsidiary, and transferred to Denver. He ultimately left the railroad in 1982.

Today, he is the principal attorney of the Brotherton Law Firm, a civil litigation firm in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The firm’s offices overlook the main line of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and his old brakeman’s lantern sits at a place of honor.

Since 1993, he has taught environmental law at Texas Christian University, and he has also taught at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law and the Center for Environmental Research and Training at the University of Texas at Arlington. He, his wife Deborah, and their border collies live in Argyle, Texas. Their oldest daughter Shawn completes her law degree this year, and daughter Rebecca is a snowboarding instructor in Vail, Colorado.One of William’s favorite sayings is “Practicing law is a lot safer than hanging off a boxcar in 35 below!” Check out William’s role as a disgruntled railroad worker in the latest Timothy Hutton movie (click here)

Additional Publications by William J. Brotherton

“My Promotion to Trainmaster” by William J. Brotherton, has been published in the November, 2004 issue of Trains magazine. William will be writing additional articles for the magazine, which can be found at TRAINS Magazine Homepage. Williams next article in Trains, Twenty-Five Years Later; a Former BN Brakesman Goes Back, will be published in an upcoming issue.

William writes a biweekly column about law, business and a variety of topics in The News Connection, a regional North Texas newspaper.