Attorney Barton Warren is an exceptional trial lawyer and he is highly respected for his legal skills throughout the state of Alabama. Along with his long-time law partner, Derek Simpson, they make up the very formidable plaintiff’s personal injury law firm of Warren and Simpson, P.C. Barton also does a lot work with the Huntsville-Madison County Bar Association, the Alabama State Bar and the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association. Barton has been selected as an “Alabama Super Lawyer” for several years, along with having an AV Rating from Martindale Hubbell. He was also inducted into the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Attorneys in 2011. Barton is skilled at his craft but, as you’ll hear, this product of the Shoals remains humble and good natured. If only he had kept up with the guitar and put in the same effort there as he does with the practice of law, who knows, he might have been a member of the Drive By Truckers! It was good to catch up with Barton on this podcast.
Attorney Rafi Stern has packed in a lot of work and experience in the relatively short time since his law school graduation. A product of New York City, Rafi has found his passion in the form of non-profit legal work. He is currently a legal fellow with the Lawyers Alliance for New York. Ivy league educated with his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his law degree from Cornell Law School, Rafi worked for the large law firm of Paul Weiss and then as a law clerk for the Honorable Margaret Cangilos-Ruiz in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York before moving on to do his non-profit work. I found Rafi to be very engaging with an up-tempo personality and I think you will enjoy hearing his story on this episode.
Tom Malicki is a long-time senior partner at Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP in Omaha, Nebraska. He practices in the areas of corporate law, business law, energy law and estate planning. This podcast, however, is really a trip down memory lane for me as I first met Tom when he pitched against me as a 6th grader. We both attended Wheeling High School and, where a lot of our friends played one or two sports, Tom played three; baseball, basketball and football. Tom played all three of these sports very well, in addition to being an excellent student. When I look back at that time, I don’t know how he was able to do it all. A mutual friend (shout out to Paul “Hypo” Digoia!) told me that Tom was selected to the Wheeling High School Athletics Hall of Fame a couple of years back. Hypo and a bunch of guys from that era went and gave Tom a proper reception. In any event, the last memory I have of Tom is our senior year football season and the ups and downs that came during the year, high school football being what it is. After graduation from Wheeling, Tom left for Omaha, Nebraska and played baseball for Creighton University while getting an accounting degree. He then stuck around at Creighton and got a joint JD/MBA degree from Creighton and stayed in Omaha after that. As I think about Tom from our youth, he was the type of guy that excelled at whatever he did, yet always in a humble manner, and it was great to catch up with him after all of these years.
J.W. (Terry) Freiberg is a social psychologist with a PhD from UCLA who, after serving as a professor at Boston University for a decade or so, decided to take a sabbatical of sorts to attend Harvard Law School. He then worked as an attorney for several years in Boston and he is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar. Terry is a prolific author who studies chronic loneliness through the lens of a social psychologist. If you get a chance, pick up his most recent book, “Surrounded by Others and Yet so Alone: A Lawyer’s Case Stories of Love, Loneliness and Litigation.” It is a fascinating and easy to read book on this pervasive topic that, unfortunately, affects a large portion of our population. You can also see Terry’s other books and publications at this website, www.thelonelinessbooks.com I think you will enjoy hearing his story.
Maureen (Mike) Cooper has been practicing law in Alabama for over twenty-five years. Mike is a very well respected attorney and she focuses her practice on the areas of personal injury, worker’s compensation, social security disability and domestic relations. Mike, as you’ll hear on this podcast, is really a master of her craft and her representation is eagerly sought by prospective clients. In addition, Mike is very invested in our community and she does a great deal of pro bono and volunteer work in her “free time.” I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to Mike in quite awhile so I was happy to catch up with her on this podcast.
Bartley Loftin is very well known throughout Alabama for being an exceptional trial lawyer. On top of that, Bartley is someone that people like being around. As you’ll hear on this podcast, he is funny, humble and has an engaging personality. Bartley has the distinction of working as a partner at all of the largest law firms in Alabama over the years. He has now gone out on his own as the co-founder of Loftin Holt, LLP, along with his law partner, David Holt. Their firm is a high-stakes, business-oriented boutique law firm. Bartley is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell and has been selected as an Alabama/Mid-South Super Lawyer for the past several years as well as being recognized by the Best Lawyers in America for a number of years. Bartley’s recent notable cases include serving as lead counsel for plaintiffs in a shareholder derivative class action case which settled for two hundred million dollars, which is the largest reported settlement in Madison County, Alabama and one of the largest reported settlements in Alabama. I think you’ll enjoy hearing Bartley’s story on this podcast.
Attorney Rich Raleigh is a shareholder with the highly respected Huntsville law firm of Wilmer & Lee, PA. As you’ll learn on the podcast, Rich has always been about service. Prior to joining Wilmer & Lee, Rich served his country with the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Once Rich left his active-duty military service, Rich continued his service in our community in leadership roles with Arts Huntsville, the Huntsville-Madison County Bar Association, the Downtown Rotary Club, National Children’s Advocacy Center, Sparkman Center Boys and Girls Club and with the Old Town Historic District Association. In addition to all of his service work Rich is, of course, a highly respected and sought after attorney. This is no more evident than in his various roles with the Alabama State Bar, culminating in his election as President of the Alabama State Bar in 2014. Rich has also been selected as an Alabama/Mid-South SuperLawyer for the past several years. It was good to talk to Rich on this podcast and I think you’ll enjoy hearing his story.
Jim Parkman is a lawyer with Boles, Holmes, Parkman & White with offices in Birmingham and Dothan, Alabama. Jim, as I learned, handles complex and high profile white collar criminal defense cases nationwide. For example, Jim was the lead counsel representing Richard Scrushy of Birmingham’s Healthsouth in the mid-2000s. With Jim as his counsel, Mr. Scrushy was acquitted of all 36 charges before a jury in federal court. You can read about that trial here and also, if you have some down time to watch Netflix, check out the documentary “Trial by Media, King Richard episode” in which Jim plays a prominent role. When you hear Jim, you will quickly realize that he can be very impressive and captivating to jurors who are selected to sit on his cases. You’ll also hear about someone who, after many years of trying criminal cases, is really considered a master of his craft and is held in very high regard throughout the country. I think you’ll enjoy hearing Jim’s story on this podcast.
Attorney Ben Crump is one of the preeminent civil rights attorneys in the United States. He has received many awards and honors to include the Freedom Award in 2016 from the National Civil Rights Museum. It is not a stretch to say that, if there is a case that has national civil rights implications in our country, Ben is probably involved in representing the victims and their families. Based primarily in Florida, Ben has offices throughout the United States. His law firm also handles personal injury cases, medical malpractice actions and mass torts. The number of well-known cases that Ben handles is pretty astonishing. On this podcast, we talk about Ben’s humble beginnings and his path into the law and how he developed his nationally known and well respected law firm. As one can imagine, Ben is not able to spend much time at home with his vast case load in many states. The timing of the podcast was, unfortunately, good since COVID-19 forced Ben to be off the road for a period of time. The silver lining of this time period, of course, was that he was able to spend a decent amount of quality family time during this crisis. I had not spoken to Ben previously and I enjoyed getting to know him on this podcast.
Josh Baron is an attorney with the Sharifi and Baron law firm in Salt Lake City Utah. Josh is a graduate of the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University. After a stint at the Salt Lake City Prosecutor’s office, Josh founded his law firm in 2009 and has focused on and practiced exclusively in the area of criminal defense throughout the State of Utah ever since. Josh has an interesting path as to how he got here, to include becoming fluent in Spanish from his mission trip in Chile. I became aware of Josh from his book that is available at Amazon, The Business of Criminal Law. As you’ll hear on this podcast, Josh has graciously offered a free copy of his book to the listeners of the Next Lawyer Up podcast. If you are a young lawyer practicing in the area of criminal law, you would be well advised to get this book and read it cover to cover. Like me, I am sure that you’ll find Josh humble, gracious and engaging on this podcast. It is no wonder why he has a thriving law practice!