During her career as an attorney, Susan Bevill Livingston made a positive impact on countless law students and young lawyers in Alabama through her commitment to mentorship.
A partner with Balch & Bingham in Birmingham, Ms. Livingston chaired the firm’s Diversity Committee. In this role, she started the Boot Camp for Success program, which helps to promote diversity in the legal profession by supporting future attorneys from diverse and under-represented backgrounds starting from the beginning of their careers. The annual seminar, led by attorneys and corporate leaders, helps incoming law students learn how to succeed academically and professionally. Attendees experience a mock law school class, receive tips on how to study during the first year of law school, and get advice on the legal job search process. Ms. Livingston also helped to start the firm’s first mentoring program for young lawyers just beginning their legal careers.
Ms. Livingston was an active member of her profession, serving on the boards of the Alabama Law School Foundation, the Alabama Law Institute, and the Women’s Section of the Birmingham Bar Association. She was also a dedicated community leader, and served on the boards for the YWCA of Central Alabama, the Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama and the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham. A former Girl Scout troop leader, she was the recipient of the Girl Scouts’ Women of Distinction award in 2004 and the prestigious Mildred Bell Johnson Award in 2012.
Ms. Livingston graduated from Ithaca College and received her J.D. from the University of Alabama in 1977. She began her career in the Alabama Attorney General’s office and later worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Alabama. She joined Balch & Bingham in 1985.
Her unexpected death in 2014 saddened many in the legal community, who have remembered her as a generous, energetic, devoted and funny colleague. Her work lives on through the many lawyers she mentored during her career, and the University of Alabama School of Law is proud to count her among our graduates.