Total Credits: 1 including 1 CLE
This seminar will discuss why to use demonstratives in brief, examples of demonstratives in briefs and how judges like to see them supported by the record or law.
| Handout 1 (1.1 MB) | 14 Pages | Available after Purchase |
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.
Brady E. (Brad) Mendheim, Jr., was appointed to the Alabama Supreme Court on January 22, 2018, by Governor Kay Ivey to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Justice Glenn Murdock. Before his appointment, Justice Mendheim served as a circuit judge for the 20th Judicial Circuit (Henry and Houston Counties), a position he had held since 2009. From 2001 until 2009, Justice Mendheim served as a district judge in Houston County. From 2001 until his appointment as an Associate Justice, he was appointed specially by various Chief Justices to preside over more than 250 cases in more than 40 Alabama counties. He graduated from Auburn University with high honors and from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in 1993.
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.
Aaron focuses his practice on appellate litigation and dispositive-motion briefing. He has represented multiple clients in appeals before the Alabama Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal, the Texas trial and appellate courts, and the United States Supreme Court, and has served as appellate counsel for clients in major trials in Alabama and Texas. Aaron is also experienced in defending personal-injury, business-litigation, construction-defect and professional-malpractice cases and has published on Alabama legal-malpractice law for the American Bar Association’s Professional Liability Litigation Committee. Aaron also represents clients in lawsuits concerning charter schools, oil-and-gas contracts, and property damage.
