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The Leadership Forum recentlycompleted its 12th year. On May26, ASB President Lee Copeland,assisted by President-Elect ColePortis, presented certificates andgifts to the 30 graduates of Class12. A number of alumni fromclasses 2 and 6 returned for theevent. This year’s class was se-lected from 80 applicants, thelargest number to apply in theforum’s history.The graduation guest speaker wasHon. W. Keith Watkins, chief judge,United States District Court, MiddleDistrict of Alabama, Montgomery.Andrew S. Nix, former chair of theLeadership Forum Section, pre-sented Othni J. Lath-ram of Tuscaloosa,director of the Ala-bama Law Instituteand interim director ofthe Legislative Refer-ence Service and theLegislative Fiscal Of-fice, with the 2016 Ed-ward M. PattersonServant LeadershipAward. Previous hon-orees include AngelaSlate Rawls, Richard J.R. Raleigh,Jr. and Rebecca G. DePalma. Theaward is presented annually to anoutstanding alumnus of the forum.Class 12 statistics show the aver-age age for this group was 35 (old-est 40 and youngest 30); 60 percent

male and 40 percent female; 13 per-cent black and 87 percent white; andfrom 12 different cities, with 40 per-cent from Birmingham and 60 per-cent from the rest of the state. Wehad the highest number of smallercities represented in the forum’s his-tory. Practice diversity includedplaintiff practice, 27 percent; de-fense practice, 23 percent; corpo-rate/transactional, 26 percent; andgovernment/public service/legal ed-ucation, 17 percent. Total composi-tion of the forum always equals orexceeds the diversity statistics of thebar as a whole. In the past 12 years,the forum has received 800 applica-tions, accepted 357 attorneys and

graduated 348 attor-neys. Forty-five percentof those who applyhave been chosen. Atotal of 348 men andwomen have graduatedsince the LeadershipForum’s inception.In awarding theLeadership Forum the2013 E. Symthe Gam-brell ProfessionalismAward, the nation’s

highest award for professionalismprograms, the American Bar Asso-ciation commended the forum forits innovative, thoughtful and ex-ceptional content, for its powerfuland positive impact on emergingleaders and for the extraordinary

2 0 1 6 L E A D E R S H I P F O R U M :

The Leadership Forum PreparesLawyers to Change the Future

By Edward M. Patterson, Alabama State Bar Assistant Executive Director

Lathram

example it has established thatothers might emulate.With increased expectationsfrom applicants who commit asubstantial time block to partici-pate in the seven days of manda-tory sessions in Montgomery,Huntsville and Birmingham dur-ing five months, the program com-mittee recognizes the profession isin a state of transition, and nowseeks to prepare attorneys tochange the future of the professionthat is currently unseen rather thanfalling into the trap of trying tosimply maximize a spot of thepecking order of the future whichis currently seen. These skills re-quire intentionality, deliberationand focused attention. With thehelp of expert faculty, we seek toestablish a class norm of engage-ment, discussion, respectful debateand even disagreement.The program continues to de-liver what it promises: the legalprofession has a special role in so-ciety to fulfill an opportunity tocultivate leadership skills movingfrom theory to practice, participa-tion in self-discovery and forcingparticipants to be contemplativeand learn from the inside out. So-cial events at a number of well-known restaurants and venuesthroughout the state, including thehome of Rich and ShannonRaleigh in the historic downtown

district of Huntsville, added im-mensely to the overall experience.The forum is designed to aid par-ticipants’ development into inno-vative, critical thinkers equipped torespond to disruptive change.Throughout the years, the forumhas tried four different personal as-sessment tools. For the past threeyears the Birkman Method hasbeen by far the most effective. Thisyear’s primary faculty includedProfessors Steve Walton andMichael Sacks of the GoizuetaBusiness School at Emory Univer-sity, now in their fourth year ofteaching. Both observed each newclass performs stronger than theprevious class because of thegroup dynamic engaging withthem very quickly and robustly.Collectively they reaffirmed theirbelief that, “Each class we haveworked with has been an incredi-ble group of professionals. As theprogram continues to evolve, thecurrent class seems to be gettingmore and more out of the program.This year’s class, like previousclasses, was so dedicated to thework they were doing in the forum.They brought considerable energyand excitement to the sessions. Weknow how busy everyone is, andwe were blown away by their abil-ity to put aside other demands andfocus concretely on the importantleadership material. This is a

group of thoughtful and engagedprofessionals, eager to learn moreand apply the material back totheir firms. We couldn’t wish for astronger group of participants.”This year, 14 hours of CLEcredit was approved, includingtwo hours of ethics/professional-ism. The actual program contentexceeded 55 hours. In response toalumni demand for skills on “howto lead,” the core curriculum con-sists of 60 percent teaching self-awareness, awareness of others,influence without authority, orga-nizational culture, decision-mak-ing, leading organizationalchange, delivering client value andmeeting client expectations. Tenpercent of the curriculum con-sisted of participants discussingthe role of servant leadership, andworking on solving complex prob-lems involving hypotheticalsbased on real-life scenarios. Theend result is to teach them how tolead others through an increas-ingly uncertain and changing ca-reer landscape. The remaining 30percent consisted of hearing thevariety of stories told by servant-minded judges, policy-makers,legal practitioners, business lead-ers, scholars and teachers at thecommunity, state and nationallevel who used a variety of teach-ing methods, as well as hearingfrom alumni of the forum. T

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To support the increasing so-phistication and intentionality ofthe forum we had the largest num-ber of individual, firm and corpo-rate sponsors in the forum’shistory. Bradley Arant Boult Cum-mings LLP and Freedom Report-ing–Freedom Litigation SupportServices were medallion sponsors,and in-kind donations were re-ceived from 11 corporations or in-dividuals. The support of theAlabama State Bar has been in-valuable. With this combined sup-port, the tuition for a program ofthis strength is more than 50 per-cent less than what similar pro-grams charge.Highlights of the seven days dur-ing January–May included intensetraining at Air University’s OfficerTraining School at Maxwell AFBon a challenging reaction coursedesigned to test participants’ skillsunder pressure; a session at Re-gions Community Resource Roomin Cooney Hall, the new businessschool at Samford University; asession at HudsonAlpha Institutefor Biotechnology in Huntsville;and an all-day session at The Judi-cial College in the Judicial Build-ing in Montgomery, 129 CoosaStreet Conference Center and theboardroom of the Alabama StateBar. We added “Ted Talks” to some

of the evening sessions where theclass heard from Senator CamWard, chair of the Judiciary Com-mittee, and Mayor Thomas Battleof Huntsville. A partial list of otherfaculty members included MajorGeneral Timothy Leahy, vice-com-mander of Air University, MaxwellAFB; Sam Davidson, author, pro-fessional speaker and social entre-preneur; General Charles Krulak,U.S. Marine Corps, retired; PatriciaWallwork, chief executive officer,Milo’s Tea Company, Inc.; JudgeStephen Louis A. Dillard, GeorgiaCourt of Appeals; Judge Joel F. Du-bina, senior U.S. Circuit Judge,U.S. Court of Appeals, EleventhCircuit; Sue Bell Cobb, formerchief justice, Alabama SupremeCourt; Cathy S. Wright, principal,Clarus Consulting Group; Lt. Gen-eral (retired) Ron Burgess, formeracting director, U.S. Defense Intel-ligence Agency, and acting princi-pal director, National Intelligence;and Richard F. Scruggs, former at-torney, philanthropist and founder,SecondChance MS. New topicswere added, including “Judgingwith Equals: The Inside Out ofMulti-Judge Courts” and “Leader-ship in Multi-Party or Multi-Dis-trict Complex Litigation.”Class 13 begins January 2017.Applications will be available in

July and class 2017 will be selectedin the early fall. The future of theLeadership Forum is bright. Theforum has consistently exceeded theexpectations of 96 percent of itsgraduates. In the words of one par-ticipant, “This is shaping up to bethe best thing that has ever hap-pened to me and that I have everparticipated in professionally. Ihave long been someone with a ten-dency to ‘live in his head’ and ithelps tremendously to get outside ofoneself and learn about the styles,careers, fears, goals and character-istics of my classmates. Thank youfor this amazing opportunity.”Our passion is to continue to lo-cate and develop talented, mid-level attorneys into better leaderswith a generous heart to serve theirprofession, their clients and theircommunities in a changing world.A future article will detail theaccomplishments of the forum’sgraduates over the past 12 years.Firms are beginning to notice the“value added” benefit of their at-torneys participation in the forum.Special thanks go to Adam P.Plant, Battle & Winn LLP, andHenry S. Long, Butler Snow LLP,program committee co-chairs, andR. Thomas Warburton, BradleyArant Boult Cummings LLP, se-lection committee chair. �

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Erica W. Barnes, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Birmingham

D. Edgar Black, Black & Hughston PC, Muscle Shoals

Mary Margaret P. Carroll, Fine Geddie & Associates, Montgomery

Paige J. Casey, Lloyd, Gray, Whitehead & Monroe PC, Birmingham

Latisha V. Colvin, Federal Defenders Office, Mobile

Thomas G. DeLawrence, Balch & Bingham LLP, Birmingham

Starr T. Drum, Maynard Cooper & Gale PC, Birmingham

Christopher J. England, City Attorney’s Office, Tuscaloosa

Heather R. Fann, Boyd Fernambucq Dunn & Fann PC, Vestavia

D. Brent Hargett, Sasser Sefton & Brown PC, Montgomery

David W. Holt, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Huntsville

Carmen F. Howell, Law Office of Carmen F. Howell LLC, Enterprise

E. Wilson Hunter, Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, Montgomery

Adam K. Israel, Balch & Bingham LLP, Birmingham

Lee F. Knowles, Knowles Law Office, Geneva

J. Parker Miller, Beasley Allen Crow Methvin Portis & Miles PC, Montgomery

George L. Morris, IV, Cabaniss Johnston Gardner Dumas & O’Neal, Birmingham

Tamara W. Neeley, Watson & Neeley LLC, Fort Payne

J. Levi Nichols, Lightfoot & Nichols, Luverne

Blake L. Oliver, Adams White Oliver Short & Forbus LLP, Opelika

Kathryn J. Osburne, University of Alabama System, Tuscaloosa

Ashley R. Peinhardt, Hare Wynn Newell & Newton LLP, Birmingham

Christopher K. Richardson, Espy Metcalf & Espy PC, Dothan

Ryan P. Robichaux, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Birmingham

Stephen D. Rygiel, Birmingham AIDS Outreach, Birmingham

Stephen A. Stetson, Alabama Arise, Montgomery

C. Samuel Todd, Vulcan Materials Company, Birmingham

Latanishia D. Watters, Hand Arendall LLC, Birmingham

J. Bennett White, Starnes Davis Florie LLP, Birmingham

Suntrease W. Williams-Maynard, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mobile

Class 12P A R T I C I P A N T S