Honors and Awards:

• Benchmark Plaintiff lists Mr. Nicholas as a "Local Litigation Star" in its Alabama rankings of personal injury attorneys. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Commercial Litigation and Bet the Company Litigation since 2008.  He is also AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.  

Bar/Professional Activity:

• Mr. Nicholas is a member of the Mobile County and American Bar Associations and has served as Chairman of the Business Torts and Antitrust Section of the Alabama State Bar. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Alabama Association for Justice and on the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice. He is also a member of the Mobile Chapter of Inns of Court and serves as treasurer.

Pro bono/Community Service:

• Mr. Nicholas has been active in coaching youth sports, including serving on the Board of Directors of the Matthews Park Athletic Association, as well as coaching and coordinating Upward Basketball at his church.

Verdicts and Settlements:

• Some noteworthy cases in which Mr. Nicholas served as lead or co-lead counsel include Farley, et al. v. Residential Funding Corporation, Homeowners Loan Corp., Laredo National Bank, et al., a class action in which a $10 million settlement was obtained for residential mortgage borrowers whose mortgage loans were processed in violation of TILA, HOEPA and/or RESPA (specifically, the case alleged that certain closing fees were inflated and should have been classified as finance charges under federal consumer protection laws); Harbert International, Inc. v. Alabama Department of Transportation, et al., a $7.3 million jury verdict was obtained for Harbert for delay damages and return of liquidated damages in connection with Harbert’s completion of the Cochran bridge in Mobile, Alabama; and Micro-comm, Inc. v. BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., et al., a fraud suit in which an $834,973.63 jury verdict was obtained against BellSouth for billing Micro-comm for records they never needed or used, and for not clearly identifying these charges in the billings.  The following language is required by Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct: "These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors. Furthermore, no representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers."

Educational Background:

• Mr. Nicholas received his B.B.A. in 1981 from the University of Georgia and his J.D. in 1984 from the University of Alabama. During law school, Mr. Nicholas was a member of the Order of the Coif and a member of the Bench and Bar. He is the recipient of the Dean Leigh Harrison Award, the Corpus Juris Secundum Award and the American Jurisprudence Award, and is a Hugo Black Scholar. He was the Editor of the Alabama Law Review and author of "Recovery of Economic Damages Under Alabama's Extended Manufacturers Liability Doctrine," 35:2 Ala. L. Rev., 1984.