The Judge Walter P. Gewin Award was created in 1982 to acknowledge outstanding contributions by lawyers in the development and presentation of CLE programs by CLE Alabama. The award is named for Judge Walter P. Gewin, who as President of the Alabama State Bar, helped to start the CLE department as a cooperative effort between The University of Alabama School of Law and the Alabama State Bar. Judge Gewin felt that education should continue throughout a lawyer’s professional life. The Gewin Award was presented at the Alabama State Bar meeting in July.
This year’s winner, Andrew J. Potts, practices in the areas of estate planning, trust and estate administration, and general business planning at Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, in Birmingham. He earned his B.A. and M.S. from The University of South Alabama, his J.D. from The University of Alabama School of Law and his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University. He served as law clerk to the Honorable G. B. Kahn, Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Alabama. He is past chair of the Tax and the Elder Law Sections of the Alabama State Bar and is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. He is a member of the Board of Advisors to the Alabama Family Trust. He is a frequent lecturer on trust and estate planning issues, and issues affecting the elderly and the disabled.