UA Law Alumnus Nominated as President-Elect of American Bar Association

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — H. Thomas Wells Jr., partner and a founding member of the Birmingham law firm Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C., has been nominated as president-elect of the American Bar Association (ABA). Wells is a 1975 graduate of The University of Alabama School of Law.

The nomination, which must be approved by the association’s House of Delegates in August, puts Wells in line to begin a one-year term as ABA president in August 2008. He would succeed William H. Neukom, a Seattle lawyer.

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership association in the world. With more than 400,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public.

In the ABA, Wells has established a lengthy record of service in a variety of capacities. He currently serves as chair of the House of Delegates (HOD) and has served the HOD since 1992, as State delegate, Alabama Bar delegate, and Section of Litigation delegate. He has served on the HOD nominating committee, and was chair of its steering committee from 1996-2000.

Wells has long been active in the ABA Section of Litigation. He chaired the section from 1999-2000, and has been co-chair of the section’s Environmental Litigation Committee and a member of the section’s Task Force on Civil Justice Reform.

In his work at Maynard, Cooper & Gale, Wells practices litigation, with emphasis on administrative, regulatory, environmental, toxic tort and products liability litigation. He has been with his firm since 1984. Prior to going into private practice, Wells worked for the Department of the Air Force Office of General Counsel.

Wells is a member of the Committee on Research About the Future of the Legal Profession. He is a former member of the Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, the Standing Committee on Environmental Law, and the Standing Committee on Professional Discipline.

A native of Alabama, Wells is a member of the state bar sections of Litigation, Mineral Law and Environmental Law. He is a former member of the Alabama State Bar Federal Judicial Liaison Committee, the executive committee of the Young Lawyer’s Section and the Prepaid Legal Services Committee.

Wells has been an active member of the Birmingham Bar Association, having served as chairman of the Law Day Committee, co-chair of the Judicial and Legal Reform Committee, and member of the Grievance and Continuing Legal Education committees. He has been active in a variety of community civic activities. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Metropolitan Birmingham, is former director of the American Judicature Society, and chaired the Legal Committee for the 1990 PGA Championship. At The University of Alabama School of Law, he has served as a trustee of the Farrah Law Society and is on the board of the Law School Foundation.

Wells received both his J.D. and B.A. from The University of Alabama. He has been admitted to practice in Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Eleventh, and District of Columbia Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Alabama.