Caroline Stephens Milner (‘18) Receives 2026 Alabama Rising Young Attorney Award
Please join us in congratulating Caroline Stephens Milner (‘18) as the recipient of the 2026 Alabama Rising Young Attorney Award! The award recognizes a recent graduate who has made outstanding contributions to the legal profession, their community, and the School of Law. Click here to learn more about Caroline.
Alabama Law will be hosting receptions in Birmingham and Mobile this summer to celebrate the other 2026 Alumni Award recipients — Paula W. Hinton (‘79) will receive the Sam W. Pipes Distinguished Alumna Award, and Penny A. Davis (‘78), Curtis O. Liles III (‘73), Robert L. McCurley Jr. (‘66), and Irving Silver (‘65) will be inducted into the Alabama Lawyer Hall of Honor. Be on the lookout for announcements and invitations for those events!
Alabama Law Unveils Portrait of First Black Woman Graduate
Earlier this month, Alabama Law unveiled its commissioned portrait of Sue Thompson (‘74), the first Black woman to graduate from the Law School. Ms. Thompson spent the majority of her career at Legal Services Alabama, where she advocated for low-income and marginalized communities in employment discrimination matters. She is also a passionate community advocate for equal access to high quality public education. Click here to learn more about Ms. Thompson.
Dean Emerita Martha Minow Delivers Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. Memorial Lecture
On February 26, Martha Minow, 300th Anniversary University Professor and Dean Emerita of Harvard Law School, delivered the annual Frank M. Johnson Jr. Memorial Lecture in Constitutional Rights and Liberties at Alabama Law. In her address, Dean Minow discussed the impact of technology — particularly artificial intelligence — on civil rights and liberties. Following the lecture, Professor Shalini Ray offered her reflection, where she connected AI usage to immigration enforcement, before Dean Minow answered questions from the audience. Click here to view a recording of Dean Minow’s lecture.
Show Your Alabama Law Pride!
The Student Bar Association is taking preorders for Alabama Law sweatshirts and t-shirts! Click here to shop until orders close on April 1.
Gifts
Recognition of gifts of $5,000+ over the past month
James T. Francis (‘84) contributed $10,000 to the James Timothy Francis Endowed Scholarship.
Judy W. Evans (‘75) contributed $5,500 to the Alabama Law Alumni Society.
The following alumni and friends (not mentioned above) either made or renewed an annual giving contribution to the Alabama Law Alumni Society this month. Visit www.give.ua.edu to make or renew your contribution.
Keith Covington (‘87)
Kevin B. Cronin (‘12)
Samuel N. Crosby (‘78)
Ann S. Crosby (‘78)
Andrew B. Freeman (‘05)
Michael E. Gabel (‘96)
Randy S. Haynes (‘83)
J. Fredric Ingram Sr. (‘62)
Frank S. James III (‘78)
E. Bryan Nichols (‘03)
Justin H. Nolen (‘19)
Laura L. Robinson (‘89)
Edward S. Sledge III (‘72)
M. Wesley Smithart (‘20)
Class Notes
Keep us in the loop! Please send any updates to media@law.ua.edu.
Harrison Adams Jr. (‘23) was named to Yellowhammer News’ 2026 Power & Influence: Who’s Next? list.
Crystal Armstrong (‘23) joined Spencer Fane’s Health Care practice group as an associate in Nashville.
Gavin A. Baum-Blake (‘21) secured $13 million in a Series A funding round for his startup, City Detect.
Joseph B. Caldwell (‘18) was promoted to shareholder at Munsch, Hardt, Kopf & Harr in Dallas.
Phillip D. Corley Jr. (‘94) and Prim Escalona (‘08) joined Maynard Nexsen as shareholders in Birmingham.
Richard Corrigan (‘86) was named regional vice president for Southern Alabama and the Gulf Coast for Alliant Capital Advisors.
Gregory S. Curran (‘89) and Tricia C. Wallwork (‘00) were named to Birmingham Business Journal’s 2026 Power 60 list.
Wes Gilchrist (‘05) was named to Birmingham Business Journal’s 2026 Emerging Influencers list.
Christopher B. Greene (LLM ‘14) joined Freeman, Mathis & Gary as a partner in Atlanta and as the firm’s Chief Legal Officer.
Mark E. Harris (‘14) joined Johnstone Adams as an associate in Mobile.
Hon. Wade L. Hartley (‘94) was appointed Circuit Judge for Alabama’s 21st Judicial Circuit in Escambia County by Governor Kay Ivey.
Adam Israel (‘09) was inducted as a Fellow of the Birmingham Bar Foundation.
Clint Locke (‘10) joined Wiggam Law’s tax litigation practice as a senior attorney in Atlanta.
Steven W. Mazza (‘92) received the 2026 Association of American Law Schools Award for Excellence in Mentoring Future Legal Education Leaders.
Joseph McGowin IV (‘12) was named a partner at Cunningham Bounds in Mobile.
Hon. Heath E. Meherg (LLM ‘16) was appointed District Judge for Alabama’s 32nd Judicial Circuit in Cullman County by Governor Kay Ivey.
Hon. Dale Price (‘94) was named chair of Heritage South Credit Union’s Board of Directors.
Brett S. Sheedy (‘05) received one of Birmingham Business Journal’s 2026 Leadership in Finance Awards.
Hon. Andra D. Sparks (‘88) announced his retirement as Presiding Municipal Court Judge for the City of Birmingham.
Tyler Thull (‘21) joined Burr & Forman’s Transportation, Insurance and Product Section as an associate in Mobile.
Faculty Notes
Assistant Dean Cassandra Adams was named a Fellow of the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights.
Associate Dean Jeff Baker published an edited version of his lecture, The Church of Dissent in the Imperial Republic, in the spring issue of the peer-reviewed Anglican Theological Review as one of its Practical Theology articles. Dean Baker also served as an organizer and panelist at the second annual symposium of the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights in Montgomery, which focused on voting rights and the role of media in justice movements. Dean Baker, Assistant Dean Cassandra Adams, and Professor Bryan Fair are all Fellows of the Institute.
Professor Grant Christensen had five articles accepted for publication: Indian Deference in the University of Chicago Law Review, State Taxation of Tribal Cultural Property in the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism (with Andrew Appleby), Tribal Court Judgments in the Ohio State Law Journal, Taxing Indigenous Cultural Property in BYU Law Review (with Andrew Appleby), and Religious Land Use in the Real Estate Law Journal.
Professor Heather Elliott published We Need More Picketts in Vol. 26 of Wyoming Law Review as a part of a symposium on legal issues in CJ Box’s series of novels featuring the Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. The article focused on the role of the Endangered Species Act in the novels and on larger issues of political polarization in the U.S.
Professor Elliott was also the keynote speaker at an event sponsored by the Women Lawyers Association of the Australian Capital Territory and a panelist at an event sponsored by the Bieksko-Biała Bar Association in Poland, both in honor of International Women’s Day.
Professor Russell Gold partnered with Central High School in Tuscaloosa to have students in his criminal law course teach search and seizure law to a U.S. Government class.
Professor Dan Joyner appeared on FOX10 WALA in Mobile to discuss businesses receiving refunds for the tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down.
Professor Amber Polk’s article, Environmental Rights Amendments as Constitutional (Not Environmental) Law, was accepted for publication in the Wisconsin Law Review.
Professor Clare Ryan published The Public/Private Home in Vol. 10 of the Cornell Law Review. Another article, Social Media Child Labor, was accepted for publication in Vol. 54 of the Florida State University Law Review (forthcoming 2027).
Professor Ryan also serves as co-faculty advisor (with Professor Dan Joyner) for the Jessup International Law Moot Court team, which recently finished at #10 out of more than 90 schools in the national rounds of the competition and will be representing Alabama Law in the international rounds in Washington, DC, during the week of March 28.
Professor Tobie Smith wrote amicus briefs filed in the Washington Supreme Court on behalf of a group of U.S. law professors in which he successfully urged the Court to grant review on issues related to his forthcoming article, Calling Balls and Three Strikes (63 San Diego Law Review).
Professor Sean Tu published How Big is Copyright’s Second Bite?: An Empirical Assessment of Copyright Reversion in Vol. 75 of the Duke Law Journal (with Chris Buccafusco and Brent Lutes). He was also invited to speak at National Bureau of Economic Research’s conference, Assessing the U.S. Medical Innovation System, where he presented Serial Patent Litigation: An Emerging Strategy to Delay Entry of Generic Competition, and to the University of Akron, where he spoke about pharmaceutical patent portfolios.
Professor Tu was also interviewed for a Law360 article about the Federal Circuit’s ruling in a gene therapy patent case and the precedent it sets for drug patents, and for another Law360 article about an amicus brief he joined — along with over 70 other academics — in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma, which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court next month.