Scott Donaldson is Executive Director for Graduate Law and CLE Programs and Assistant Teaching Professor of Law in Residence at the University of Alabama School of Law. Donaldson was an Alabama trial and appellate court judge from 2003 until retiring in 2021 (Circuit Court 2003-2013; Court of Civil Appeals 2013-2021). He has been general counsel for a multi-hospital system. Before taking office, he had an extensive trial and appellate law practice for 18 years. He was the Chief Judge of the Court of the Judiciary (adjudicates all complaints filed against Alabama judges), served on the Alabama State Bar Commission and State Bar Disciplinary Commission, and is a current or former chair or member of numerous other judicial and legal committees including the Evidence Committee, the Civil and Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committees, and the Appellate Rules Committee. He chaired the Task Force that developed the Alabama Rules of Court Record Privacy and Confidentiality. He has been an attorney or trial judge in approximately 180 jury trials and in hundreds of bench trials He is the author of over 900 appellate opinions with hundreds published in the Southern Reporter 3rd series.
He has conducted or participated in over 150 mediations and was a developer/instructor of Domestic Relations/Civil and Domestic Violence mediation training courses. He completed the Harvard Program on Negotiation courses Negotiation and Leadership and The Art of Saying No and is anArbitrator Panelist with the American Arbitration Association.
Donaldson taught Trial Advocacy at the University of Alabama School of Law from 2006-2022 and was an adjunct faculty member of the UA College of Commerce and Business Administration. He has taught over 40 courses for the National Judicial College to hundreds of trial judges across the country. He has taught evidence courses for 16 state judicial associations, the ABA Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board. He teaches evidence and trial skills courses for the Alabama Circuit/District Judges Associations including new judge orientation sessions and for the Probate Judges Association. He is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs and has authored numerous legal articles as well as the Alabama Trial Notebook, published by the University of Alabama School of Law CLE program. He is a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation.