profilePractice Areas
Appellate
Personal Injury Plaintiff: General
Selected To
• Alabama Super Lawyers 2011
• Alabama Super Lawyers 2010
• Alabama Super Lawyers 2009
• Alabama Super Lawyers 2010
• Alabama Super Lawyers 2009
Attorney Profile
Thomas M. Powell
Thomas Powell
Birmingham
Alabama (AL)
Profile
Tom Powell has worked with Marsh, Rickard & Bryan since 1999. Tom principally works as the firm's appellate lawyer and as its general brief writer. He has practiced in all of the Alabama appellate courts, all of the Alabama federal district courts, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of the United States and the District of Colorado. There are more than forty reported decisions for which Tom was a principal brief writer and sometimes orally argued the case. Tom always has been a plaintiff's lawyer. Earlier in his legal career, he tried a variety of cases to jury verdicts and he never had a defendant's verdict returned. Tom earned his B.A. in 1979 at the University of South Alabama, where he was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honorary society, and his J.D. in 1992 from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. Before he entered law school at age 39, Tom had worked as a writer and editor for the Birmingham Post-Herald and the Mobile Press-Register; as a publicist; as a photographer; as a lobbyist; as a professional campaign worker; and as a bailiff for Circuit Judge Robert G. Kendall III in Mobile. The Supreme Court of Alabama has appointed Tom to six consecutive terms since 2000 on the Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions (Civil) Committee, which is composed of retired Supreme Court justices, active and retired circuit judges, and attorneys. The Committee in recent years has been revising and promulgating Alabama's jury instructions in "plain English." Since 2008, Tom has been an Adjunct Professor at the Cumberland School of Law, where he teaches Alabama Trial Practice and Procedure to second- and third-year law students. In his spare time, Tom enjoys fly fishing in various parts of the world. Ask him about the "Chile Quake Tour of 2010"! Ask to see his Chile photos.
About Thomas Powell
Law School: Samford University Cumberland School of Law
Admitted: 1992, Alabama
Professional Webpage: www.mrblaw.com/Bio/ThomasPowell.asp
Honors and Awards:
- Super Lawyers: 2009, 2010, 2011
Bar/Professional Activity:
- Appointed by the Alabama Supreme Court to six consecutive terms as a member of the Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions (Civil) Committee. (2000 - Present)
- Adjunct Associate Professor of Law at the Cumberland School of Law, where he teaches the class in Alabama Trial Practice and Procedure. (2008 - Present)
- Member, American Association for Justice, 1992 - Present
- Member, Alabama State Bar, 1992 - Present
Pro bono/Community Service:
- Working with a fishing guide from Tennessee and a heart surgeon from Georgia, Tom Powell helped create a non-profit organization that aims to help preserve and improve the cold-water trout fishery of the Hiwassee River in East Tennessee.
Scholarly Lectures and Writings:
- Tom Powell has delivered more than a dozen CLE lectures, on topics ranging from the latest developments in Alabama premises liability law to the nuances of the work product doctrine to the intricacies of appellate rules and procedure.
- "Essential Skills for Appellate Practice", Cumberland CLE, 2002
- "Pre-Trial Practice & Procedure", Cumberland CLE, 2001
- "Tort Law Update", Cumberland CLE, 2000
- Work Product: What It Is & What It Ain't, Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, 1995
- 'Damages' Seminar, Cumberland CLE, 1993
- Recent Developments in Premises Liability, Cumberland CLE, 1992
Other Outstanding Achievements:
- NOTABLE DECISIONS: Ex parte Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., 987 So. 2d 1090 (Ala. 2007); Sparks v. Total Body Essential Nutrition, Inc., 27 So. 3d 489 (Ala. 2009); Smith v. Yanmar Diesel Engine Co., Ltd., 855 So. 2d 1039 (Ala. 2003); AutoZone, Inc. v. Leonard, 812 So. 2d 1179 (Ala. 2001); Allmerica Financial Life Ins. & Annuity Co. v. Miller, 775 So. 2d 132 (Ala. 2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1012 (2000); Hales v. ProEquities, Inc., 885 So. 2d 100 (Ala. 2003); McKinney v. Nationwide Mutual Insuranc Co., 33 So. 3d 1203 (Ala. 2009); Watts v. Sentry Insurance Co., 876 So. 2d 440 (Ala. 2003); Defriece v. McCorquodale, 998 So. 2d 465 (Ala. 2008); Corbin v. Smith, 842 So. 2d 610 (Ala. 2002); Ryan v. Hayes, 832 So. 2d 21 (Ala. 2002); Ex parte Bailey, 814 So. 2d 867 (Ala. 2001); Dickinson v. Land Developers Construction Co., 882 So. 2d 291 (Ala. 2003); H.R.H. Metals, Inc. v. Miller, 833 So. 2d 18 (Ala. 2002); Cotten v. St. Bernard Preparatory School, 20 So. 3d 157 (Ala. Civ. App. 2009).
Educational Background:
- B.A., University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama., 1978
- J.D., Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Alabama., 1992
Call me at 205-879-1981
To: Thomas M. Powell
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