TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — John Wymer, a nationally known labor and employment law attorney and University of Alabama alumnus, will present the Helen Crow Mills and John Carroll Mills Lecture March 8 at 11 a.m. in the Ferguson Forum, room 360 of the Ferguson Center, on the UA campus.
His lecture, titled “The Critical Difference between the Person Who ‘Does a Good Job’ and the Person You ‘Can’t Do Without,’” will focus on the skills needed to find a niche for success in a struggling economy. The lecture is open to the public.
The lectureship was established and endowed in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences by Helen Crow Mills and the late Dr. John Mills of Birmingham to bring successful and distinguished alumni and citizens to campus to speak as a way of motivating and inspiring students.
For 16 years, Wymer has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America, named three times by Atlanta Magazine as one of the “Top 10” attorneys in Georgia and by Human Resources Executive magazine as one of the “One Hundred Most Influential Management Attorneys” in the United States.
Wymer is a partner in the Paul Hastings firm of Atlanta. He earned his bachelor’s degree from The University of Alabama in 1971 and his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1974. He has built his career on representing employers throughout the United States in labor and employment-related disputes. He has served as lead council in more than 70 cases before the United States Supreme Court.
He is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, a contributing editor to The Developing Labor Law, and he has published numerous articles in his field. Wymer is a member of the Alabama State Bar and the State Bar of Georgia. Involved in his community, he has served as chair of the board of directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlanta.
While at UA, he was a Student Government Association senator for the College of Arts and Sciences, the first administrative intern in New College, chairman of the Emphasis Committee, president of Phi Sigma Alpha and a member of the Jasons and ODK.
Wymer’s lecture is the fourth in the lectureship series established by the Mills.
Helen Mills received a bachelor’s degree from the College of Human and Environmental Sciences at UA in 1959. She is president of Crow Real Estate and Insurance Co. in Birmingham and a longtime member of the Leadership Board of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.
John Mills received his bachelor’s degree in pre-dental studies from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1955 and a dentistry degree from UA’s School of Dentistry in Birmingham in 1958. He practiced endodontics for 29 years and was a diplomat of the American Board of Endodontics. Mills was a pioneer in endodontics in Alabama and the only board certified endodontist in private practice in Alabama for many years. After leaving private practice, Mills became director of the endodontic program at UA’s School of Dentistry in Birmingham. He died Jan. 19, 2007, in Birmingham.
UA’s College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.
Contact
Kelli Wright, communications specialist, College of Arts and Sciences, 205/348-8539, khwright@as.ua.edu