Tips, Tricks, and Traps for the Unwary: Things You didn't Know You Didn't Know

Justice Gregory Carl Cook Related Seminars and Products

Supreme Court of Alabama

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.

Matthew Fridy Related Seminars and Products

Judge

Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

Matt Fridy is a judge on the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. Prior to his election to the Court in 2020, Judge Fridy was a lawyer with Wallace, Jordan, Ratliff & Brandt, LLC, where his practice focused on appellate litigation, constitutional law, campaign finance, business litigation, and agricultural law. Judge Fridy also served as a staff attorney on the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals and the Supreme Court of Alabama.

Judge Fridy is a 2001 magna cum laude graduate of the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. While in law school, he served as Executive Editor of the Cumberland Law Review. After law school, Judge Fridy served a one-year federal clerkship for United States District Judge Edwin Nelson.  In 2014, Judge Fridy was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives, representing the citizens of District 73, which comprised parts of Montevallo, Alabaster, Pelham, and Helena. In the Legislature, he served as Chairman of the Committee on the Constitution, Campaigns, and Elections; Chairman of Shelby County Legislation; Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee; and Chairman of the Subcommittees on Civil Law and Healthcare Costs. He was reelected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and resigned from the House in 2020 upon his election to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.

Judge Fridy previously served as an Adjunct Professor of Business Law at the University of Montevallo. He is a Trustee of the University of Montevallo, a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation, a member of the Supreme Court’s Standing Committee on the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, and a member of the Board of Directors of Shelby Emergency Assistance. He is also a member of the Federalist Society.  Judge Fridy and his wife Kimberly met while students at the University of Montevallo. Kimberly is a pharmacist, and the couple has five children — Jack, Beth, Cate, Emmy, and Mae. They reside in Pelham and attend Spring Creek Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Montevallo, where Judge Fridy serves as an elder on the session.

Aaron McLeod Related Seminars and Products

Adams and Reese, LLP

Aaron McLeod focuses his practice at Adams and Reese on appellate litigation and dispositive-motion briefing. He has represented clients in appeals before the Alabama Supreme Court, the Eleventh, Sixth, and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal, the Texas appellate courts, and the United States Supreme Court, and has served as appellate counsel for clients in major trials in Alabama and Texas. Aaron also handles tort, commercial, construction, and professional-malpractice cases, and has published on Alabama legal-malpractice law for the American Bar Association’s Professional Liability Litigation Committee.

Aaron served as the youngest chairman ever elected for the Alabama State Bar’s Appellate Practice section.