Total Credits: 3.0 CLE
Anatomy of a Brief – This panel will discuss the various parts of an appellate brief (table of contents, statement of jurisdiction, statement of facts, etc.) and what appellate judges like and do not like to see in each part. The panel will address the order in which an appellate judge reads the brief, whether to use charts, photographs, or maps, whether to attach a record document to the brief, how to draft issues, and more.
Waiver on Appeal – The last thing a lawyer wants to do is waive an argument. Alabama has some little known waiver rules. This panel will discuss how trial and appellate lawyers can avoid waiving an argument or issue for appeal. The panel will talk about how to preserve issues in the trial court, how to preserve issues in appellate briefs, and common mistakes practitioners make.
Original Public Meaning – In Barnett v. Jones, No. 1190470, 2021 WL 1937259, at *7 (Ala. May 14, 2021), Justice Jay Mitchell wrote special concurrence stating that “our courts should interpret the Alabama Constitution of 1901 in accordance with its original public meaning . . . .” He “invite[d] parties and amici curiae in future cases to provide scholarship and arguments that help us do that.” Justice Mitchell will discuss what “original public meaning” is, what resources could be used to define it, and how an argument might be constructed. Oher panelists will discuss how other courts have addressed “original public meaning” and how that experience may prove useful to Alabama practitioners
You must complete this course by 11:59 PM on December 31, 2023 in order to receive credit with the Alabama State Bar.
| Seminar materials.pdf (2.1 MB) | 89 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Justice William B. Sellers was appointed by Governor Kay Ivey in May 2017 to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of Alabama. Justice Sellers received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hillsdale College in 1985, a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Alabama in 1988, and a Masters of Laws degree in Taxation from New York University in 1989. Justice Sellers practiced law in Montgomery for 28 years. He maintained a general business practice with emphasis on taxation and business organizations and finance. A major part of Justice Sellers's practice involved tax litigation.
Justice Sellers is a member of numerous civic organizations and professional associations. In 2012, he received the President's Award for service to the Alabama Bar Association. In 2013, Governor Robert Bentley appointed Justice Sellers to the Alabama State Council on the Arts. In August 2014, Justice Sellers was elected chairman of the Fair Ballot Commission. Since 2014, he has served as the community liaison with the International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base. He is past president of the Rotary Club of Montgomery, past chairman of the Montgomery Area Business Committee for the Arts, chairman of the River Region United Way Campaign in 2008, and past chairman of the YMCA of Greater Montgomery. Justice Sellers was a member of the Electoral College in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. Justice Sellers is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Alabama, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Courts for the Middle and Northern Districts of Alabama, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States Tax Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Alabama State Bar, the Montgomery County Bar Association, and the District of Columbia Bar.
David G. Wirtes, Jr. is a member of Cunningham Bounds, LLC of Mobile, Alabama, where he focuses on strategic planning, motion practice and appeals. Mr. Wirtes is licensed in all state and federal courts in Alabama and Mississippi, the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. He is active in numerous professional organizations, including as a member of the Alabama and Mississippi State Bar Associations, long-time member of the Alabama Supreme Court’s Standing Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure, Sustaining Member of the Alabama Association for Justice (and Member of its Board of Governors and Executive Committee (1990-present); Member and/or Chairman, Amicus Curiae Committee (1990-present); and co-editor, the Alabama Association for Justice Journal (1996-present)), and the American Association for Justice where he serves as a Member of its Amicus Curiae Committee (1999-present). Mr. Wirtes is a Sustaining Fellow, Trustee and Officer of the Pound Civil Justice Institute; a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America; a Founder and former Executive Director of the American Institute of Appellate Practice (and one of just fourteen persons certified nationwide by AIAP as an Appellate Specialist); and a Sustaining Member and the former Alabama Representative for Public Justice. He has published numerous journal articles and is a frequent lecturer at continuing legal education seminars, addressing topics such as Defeating Unlawful Discrimination in Jury Selection, Evidence, Examination of Witnesses, State Constitutional Protections, Immunity, Appellate Practice and Procedure, Electronic Discovery, and HIPAA and Ex parte Communications with Healthcare Providers.
Bernard Harwood attended the University of the South and The University of Alabama to earn his B.S. He earned his LL.B., Order of the Coif, from The University of Alabama School of Law. He served as a justice on the Alabama Supreme Court from January 2001 to January 2007. For ten years prior to that he served a Circuit Judge for the 6th Judicial Circuit. He was engaged in the private practice of law for 28 years preceding his judicial service, with a concentration in trial work. He has now returned to the private practice of law in Tuscaloosa with the firm of Rosen Harwood. For over 20 years Mr. Harwood taught courses in Trial Advocacy at The University of Alabama School of Law and now teaches an evidence course there. He is a member of the Tuscaloosa County, Alabama State, and American Bar Associations, and the Alabama Law Institute. Justice Harwood is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and has been certified an "Advocate" by The American Board of Trial Advocacy. He is past-president of the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association, the Tuscaloosa Inn of Court, and the Farrah Law Society/Order of the Coif. He is a Fellow of both the Alabama and the American Bar Foundations. Judge Harwood is active as an civil litigator, an appellate counsel, and as an arbitrator and a mediator. He is a certified American Arbitration Association arbitrator and mediator and is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
Mr. Haden is a Partner in the firm's Birmingham office, chairs the firm’s Appellate Practice Group, and is the author of the Alabama Appellate Practice Guide. His practice focuses on appellate litigation, including litigation in the healthcare, business, and energy fields. Before joining the firm, Ed served as the Nominations and Constitutional Law Counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for Chairman Orrin Hatch and as Chief Counsel of the Courts Subcommittee for Senator Jeff Sessions. He also clerked for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and served as a staff attorney for the Honorable Harold See of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Ed serves on the Lawyers Advisory Committee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Best Lawyers in America ranked Balch & Bingham LLP number one in Appellate Law in Alabama and annually recognizes Ed. Martindale Hubbell ranked Ed as AV Preeminent. Benchmark Appellate recognizes Ed as a star in Eleventh Circuit-Alabama appeals. Ed regularly litigates appeals in the Supreme Court of Alabama and the Eleventh Circuit.
James L. “Jay” Mitchell was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2018.
Prior to serving on the Supreme Court, Justice Mitchell was an accomplished litigation attorney with Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C. During his time in private practice, he tried a number of complex cases to verdict, successfully handled appeals, and obtained favorable settlements for clients. He was rated as one of the top litigators in the United States and Alabama, and received the highest possible rating for professional ethics. He also served on Maynard, Cooper & Gale’s executive committee, helping to lead strategic and growth initiatives for the firm.
Justice Mitchell was born in Mobile and grew up in South Alabama and in Homewood. He is a graduate of Homewood High School and received his Bachelor of Arts with honors from Birmingham-Southern College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, served as president of the student body, and played forward on the school’s 1995 national championship basketball team. He holds a Master of Arts from University College in Dublin, Ireland, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Justice Mitchell has long been active in organizations that benefit the community and enhance the legal profession. In addition to his service with other organizations, he is a member of the Rotary Club of Birmingham and serves on the board of directors at Cornerstone School, an inner city Christian school. He is also a member of the Federalist Society.
Justice Nels S.D. Peterson was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal to the Supreme Court of Georgia effective January 1, 2017. He was re-elected statewide for a six-year term in 2018. He previously served as a judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals, to which he was appointed by Governor Deal effective January 1, 2016. Justice Peterson graduated from Kennesaw State University with a B.S. in political science and a minor in economics. While at KSU, he served as President of Student Government and Chair of the Student Advisory Counsel to the Board of Regents, and was named KSU Student of the Year and Outstanding Senior in Political Science. Justice Peterson received his J. D. from Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he was Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Executive Vice-President of the Federalist Society, and was a finalist in the Ames Moot Court Competition.
Upon graduation from law school, Justice Peterson served as a law clerk to Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Justice Peterson then practiced at King & Spalding LLP in Atlanta, where he focused on securities litigation, corporate governance litigation, merger-related litigation, and appellate litigation. Justice Peterson then moved to the Governor’s Office, where he served as Executive Counsel and Deputy Executive Counsel to Governor Sonny Perdue. In addition to his role as the Governor’s chief legal advisor, Justice Peterson also served as a senior advisor on a broad array of policy issues, including water, natural resources, education, the judiciary, and criminal justice.
At the expiration of Governor Perdue’s term, Justice Peterson moved to the Attorney General’s Office as Counsel for Legal Policy, where he oversaw major policy issues and litigation, as well as the rewrite of the state’s Open Records and Open Meetings Acts. In 2012, the Attorney General appointed Justice Peterson as Georgia’s first Solicitor General. In that position, he oversaw all of the state’s civil appellate litigation, played a lead role in all policy-related litigation, and served as a senior advisor to the Attorney General. Justice Peterson was then appointed Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and Secretary to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, a position he held until his appointment to the Court of Appeals.
Justice Gregory Carl Cook (“Greg”) was elected to the Supreme Court in 2022. Justice Cook is the son of Gene and Dottie Cook and is from Florence, Alabama. From an early age, his parents instilled in him faith, the value of hard work, and the importance of public service. He discovered early his passion for the conservative, optimistic principles of President Reagan’s shining city on a hill. Justice Cook attended Duke University on an Air Force ROTC scholarship, graduated in 1984 magna cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then served our country in the United States Air Force, reaching the rank of Captain. Justice Cook received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1991, magna cum laude, where he served as an Executive Editor of the Federalist Society’s Journal of Law and Public Policy.
After finishing law school, Justice Cook moved back to Alabama and practiced law at Balch & Bingham for over 31 years. He handled a wide variety of matters in over 40 of Alabama’s 67 counties and in over 15 different states, including jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations. A large part of his practice involved complex commercial litigation including a number of class actions. He is the author of the two-volume treatise Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure Annotated (5th Edition) and is the co-author and editor of two books: Class Action Strategy & Practice Guide (2018) and The Class Action Fairness Act: Law and Strategy (2013 and 2022). Before taking the bench, Justice Cook also served for many years on the Alabama Supreme Court Standing Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure. Justice Cook has been active in the American, Alabama, and Birmingham Bars, including: as a member of Council and a Life Fellow (Section of Litigation, American Bar); as a Past Chair of the Business Torts and Antitrust Section and a Bar Examiner (subject-matter expert) (Alabama Bar); and as a Life Fellow, a member of the Grievance Committee, and a Past Chair of the Civil Courts Procedure Committee (Birmingham Bar). In his private practice, he received numerous awards and rankings, including from: Chambers USA, Best Lawyers (multiple areas), BTI Client Service All-Star, Benchmark (multiple areas), Super Lawyers, and Martindale-Hubbell. He is a long time member of the Federalist Society and the American Inns of Court, among other legal groups.
Justice Tommy Elias Bryan was raised on a family farm in Crenshaw County, Alabama, where his parents taught him the values of faith, family, and hard work. He is the son of the late Margie Spivey Bryan and the late Elias Daniel Bryan. A 1974 graduate of Brantley High School, Justice Bryan continued his education at Troy State University, where he received Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in education. In 1983, he graduated from the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law. After graduating from law school, Justice Bryan served as a staff attorney for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.
In 1987, Justice Bryan became an assistant attorney general for the State of Alabama, serving as an associate general counsel for Alabama's environmental department. In that position he gained valuable experience in defending and interpreting highly technical and scientific regulations and standards, as well as drafting administrative orders and reviewing legislation pertaining to environmental issues.
In 2004, Justice Bryan ran for a seat on the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals and, after winning every county in the state during the Republican primary election, he went on to win the general election after challenging an incumbent judge. He was sworn into office as a Judge on the Court of Civil Appeals in January 2005. He was reelected in November 2010. In 2012, during his tenure on the Court of Civil Appeals, Justice Bryan was named "Judge of the Year" by the Family Law Section of the Alabama State Bar. Also in 2012, Justice Bryan was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court and was sworn into office as an Associate Justice in January 2013. He was reelected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2018 without opposition.
Justice Bryan is a member of the Alabama Bar Association, where he served as a member of the Environmental Law and Appellate Practice Sections and he served as vice chairman of the Quality of Life Committee. Justice Bryan previously served on the Supreme Court of Alabama's standing committees for the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure and the Alabama Rules of Judicial Administration. He also served as a member of the Supreme Court of Alabama's Dispute Resolution Commission. He is also a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association. He has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the District of Columbia.
Sarah Hicks Stewart, a long-time resident of Mobile, was elected in November 2018 to serve as an Associate Justice on the Alabama Supreme Court. She is the daughter of Reginald and Suzanne Hicks. Her only brother, Charlie Hicks, was an attorney in Mobile until his untimely death in 2014. Justice Stewart and her family lived all over the world for the majority of her childhood while her father worked as a petroleum geologist. In 1981, Justice Stewart graduated from Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma; she earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Communication at the University of Arkansas in 1985 and 1986. While in college, she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, Mortar Board, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Order of Omega and served as president of the Student Government Association her senior year. In 1992, Justice Stewart earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School where she was vice president of the Law Student Association. After graduating from Vanderbilt, Justice Stewart practiced law with Hand Arendall LLC, Ezell & Sharbrough LLC, and finally with her brother, Charlie. As a lawyer, Justice Stewart was the first female president of the Mobile Young Lawyers and served on many local and state bar committees. Justice Stewart was appointed a circuit judge in the 13th Judicial Circuit by Governor Riley in 2006 and ran for the position three times unopposed. As a circuit judge, Justice Stewart handled thousands of civil and criminal cases, ranging from simple car wrecks to multi-million dollar business disputes and from possession of marijuana to capital murder. During her 13 years as a circuit judge, Justice Stewart served as the co-chair on Professionalism in the Bench and Bar, on the Supreme Court’s standing committee on the Alabama Rules of Evidence, and on many other Alabama State Bar and judicial committees. Justice Stewart was active in the leadership of the Circuit Judges Association, serving as Education Chair for eight years and was elected by her fellow judges in July 2018 as the first female president of the Circuit Judges Association.
Terry A. Moore is a 1990 graduate of the University of South Alabama. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1993. Following graduation, he entered private practice in the Mobile, Alabama, office of Adams & Reese where he specialized in workers' compensation and civil litigation. In 1998, he became a partner in the Mobile law firm of Vickers, Riis, Murray & Curran, LLC. In 2004, Moore co-founded Austill, Lewis, Pipkin & Moore, P.C., where he served as a member until his election to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in 2006.
While practicing law, Moore published numerous articles in legal journals, law reviews, and seminars. In 1998, West Publishing issued Alabama Workers' Compensation, a two-volume treatise that was written by Moore between 1992 and 1997. That treatise is now considered the leading authority on its subject by the appellate courts of Alabama, having been cited in dozens of cases. Moore has used the knowledge he gained from researching this book to teach workers' compensation law to judges, lawyers, and workers' compensation professionals throughout the state and to provide pro bono services.
