Total Credits: 3 including 3 CLE
The authors of our best-selling publications will cover an evidence update, tips from a trial judge on best practices in the courtroom, handling appeals and more. Each participant will receive a free 30-day subscription to the digital version of McElroy's, Gamble's and the Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions as well as 10% off all our publications.
Terry McCarthy is a partner at the Birmingham law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, and is the co-author (along with Charles Gamble and Robert Goodwin) of the Seventh Edition of McElroy’s Alabama Evidence and the Third Edition of Gamble’s Alabama Rules of Evidence. He has also authored numerous scholarly articles on evidence issues and gives several CLE presentations each year on various evidence topics. Terry has taught evidence courses as an adjunct professor for most of his legal career at multiple law schools, and he currently teaches first year Civil Procedure at The University of Alabama School of Law. He serves on the advisory committee for the Alabama Rules of Evidence, and is a graduate of The University of Alabama School of Law. Terry also has a diverse trial and appellate practice and has served as lead counsel in various matters in more than 25 states throughout the country. He may be reached at tmccarthy@lightfootlaw.com.
Scott Donaldson was a Judge on the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals from 2013 until retiring in 2021 and was a circuit judge from 2003-2013. Before taking office, he had an extensive trial and appellate law practice for 18 years. Donaldson was also the Chief Judge of the Court of the Judiciary (the court that adjudicates all complaints filed against Alabama judges). He served on the Alabama State Bar Commission and State Bar Disciplinary Commission and is a current or former chair or member of numerous other judicial and legal committees including the Evidence Committee, the Civil Pattern Jury Instructions Committee, and the Appellate Rules Committee. He has been an attorney or trial judge in approximately 180 jury trials and in hundreds of bench trials. After retiring from the bench, Donaldson had an active mediation, arbitration, trial and appellate law practice. He is currently the General Counsel for the DCH Health System.
Donaldson is a faculty member of the National Judicial College and has taught many four-day evidence courses to hundreds of trial judges across the country. He has also taught evidence courses for 13 state judicial associations, the ABA Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and for the judges of the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He teaches evidence and trial skills courses for the Alabama Circuit/District Judges Associations including new judge orientation sessions and for the Probate Judges Association. Donaldson taught Trial Advocacy at the University of Alabama School of Law each semester from 2006-2022 and was an instructor for the 40-hour Domestic Relations/Civil mediator training course for alabamamediationtraining.com. He is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs and has authored numerous legal articles as well as the Alabama Trial Notebook, published by the University of Alabama School of Law CLE program. He is a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation and Vice-President of the Board of Directors.
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.
Ms. Watson earned her B.S. from the University of Wisconsin and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. She served as Law Clerk to Associate Justice Janie L Shores, Alabama Supreme Court from 1983-1984. She has had a diverse practice that started with two years as a criminal defense attorney, then shifting to an all-plaintiff practice in mass torts, single events and appellate practice across all types of cases, and now focuses on pharmaceutical and other product liability, abuse cases, medical issues and premises liability. Ms. Watson is a member of the Birmingham Bar; the Alabama and American Associations for Justice; the American Board of Trial Advocates; and the National Board of Appellate Lawyers. She is the chair of the Amicus Curiae Brief Committee for the Alabama Association for Justice and a member of the Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions Committee - Civil. She is the board chair at Studio By The Tracks and a member of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance Pre-K Task Force, and pro bono counsel for the Komen Race for the Cure.
