News Post

MONTGOMERY – The Alabama State Bar on Monday announced the names of the 30 attorneys selected as members of the 2017 Leadership Forum Class 13.

Created in 2005, the bar’s Leadership Forum has produced 348 graduates.  Participants will undergo a rigorous education and training process focusing on servant leadership, ethics and career development. Candidates are required to attend five separate sessions including a three-day orientation program.

“Our state is fortunate to have a solid core of young lawyers who are accomplished. Through the Leadership Forum, we bring together a diverse group of young lawyers who are further trained to become servant leaders to their community neighbors and to their brothers and sisters in the legal profession,” said Alabama State Bar President J. Cole Portis of the Beasley Allen Law Firm (Montgomery). “The lawyers selected for this year’s Leadership Forum will experience an intense educational program to better understand the core values of ethics and professionalism in the practice of law. Once they finish these classes, they will join past graduates to become ambassadors for our profession who epitomize the bar’s motto ‘Lawyers Render Service.'”

While there is no age requirement, participants must have practiced law for at least five years and no more than 15 years. Candidates are selected based on demonstrated leadership qualities and service to their communities. Entry to the program is competitive, with approximately 40 percent of applicants chosen for the 30 positions each year.

In 2013, the American Bar Association awarded the Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum with the E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award, the nation’s leading award honoring the best professionalism programs and practices of law schools, bar associations, professional commissions and other law-related organizations.

The lawyers selected for the 2017 Leadership Forum Class 13 include:

Cassandra W. Adams, Cumberland School of Law (Birmingham)

Jason Avery, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (Birmingham)

Rachel V. Barlotta, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC (Birmingham)

Charlie G. Baxley, Hoar Holdings, LLC (Birmingham)

Valerie J. Brown, Valerie Brown Law, LLC (Huntsville)

Pooja Chawla, Pooja Chawla, PC (Bessemer)

Patrick Chesnut, Ables, Baxter & Parker, PC (Athens)

Maggie J. Cornelius, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (Birmingham)

Krystal L. Drummond, Drummond Company (Vestavia)

William M. Espy, Melton, Espy & Williams, PC (Montgomery)

John J. Geer, III, U.S. Attorney’s Office – MDAL (Montgomery)

Susan N. Han, Nettles Han Law, LLC, Red Mountain Law Group (Birmingham)

Alison D. Hawthorne, Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles, PC (Montgomery)

Jonathan C. Hill, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP (Montgomery)

Michael P. Huff, Maynard Cooper & Gale, PC (Huntsville)

Jason S. Isbell, Alabama Bankers Association, Inc. (Montgomery)

Amy C. Marshall, Marshall Law, LLC (Enterprise)

Cheryl H. Oswalt, Sirote & Permutt (Birmingham)

Joshua K. Payne, Spotswood Sansom & Sansbury LLC (Birmingham)

Ashley N. Penhale, Copeland Franco Screws & Gill, PA (Montgomery)

Kandice E. Pickett, State of Alabama (Tuscaloosa)

Leanna B. Pittard, Blasingame Burch Garrard & Ashley, PC (Birmingham)

Daniel F. Pruet, Daniel F. Pruet, Attorney at Law (Tuscaloosa)

Brandy L. Robertson, Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC (Birmingham)

Adam L. Sanders, Samford and Denson, LLP (Opelika)

Allen Sheehan, Capell & Howard, PC (Montgomery)

Kristin W. Sullivan, Massey, Stotser & Nichols, PC (Birmingham)

Jason B. Tompkins, Balch & Bingham LLP (Birmingham)

Reed Williams, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, LLC (Montgomery)

Soo Seok Yang, Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles, PC (Montgomery)