Our Mission & Areas of Focus
The mission of the Alabama Association for Justice is to preserve and protect the constitutional right to a trial by jury guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution by ensuring that every person or business harmed or injured by the misconduct or negligence of others can hold wrongdoers accountable in the one room where everyone is equal – the courtroom.
Areas of Focus:
Eliminate civil justice restrictions.
Provide our members with excellent educational opportunities.
Strengthen the civil justice system.
Support adequate court funding.
Participate in the selection and election of a qualified and impartial judiciary.
Work in campaigns and the Legislature to positively affect the discourse of public policy.
Officers
(2024-2025)
Ben Baker is a principal with Beasley Allen and his practice focuses on product liability and crashworthiness cases. He is a Sustaining and Executive Committee member of ALAJ and a member of the American Association for Justice, Montgomery County Bar, and the Southern Trial Lawyers Association. Ben has also been included in Super Lawyers consistently since 2010 and Best Lawyers since 2013. He has also recently published a book titled "Tire Litigation: A Primer." Ben is married to Kimberly Baker and they have three children. He is also admitted to practice law in Georgia, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Washington D.C.
Ben Baker
President
Clint Mountain is the managing partner with the law firm of Mountain & Mountain in Tuscaloosa. Raised in Montgomery, Alabama, he obtained his undergraduate degree in business management from the University of Alabama in 2000 and his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2003. Clint has been named Business Alabama Magazines Top Young Lawyers, Alabama Super Lawyers Top 40 under 40, served as past chair of the AAJ’s Emerging Leaders Caucus and as Junior Board President of the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation. Clint has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation and T-Town Paws.
Clint Mountain
President-Elect
Lucy E. Tufts is a partner with the firm of Cunningham Bounds, LLC in Mobile. An Alabama native, she graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law Center in the top 5% of her class. Her areas of practice include business litigation, complex litigation, product liability, industrial accidents, personal injury, trucking litigation, and wrongful death. Lucy is a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and is a Certified Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Lucy has obtained multi million dollar verdicts, judgements, and settlements on behalf of her clients. She was recently named a "Winning Litigator" by the National Law Journal, and several of her multi-million dollar results were profiled in its special report, "Winning."
Lucy Tufts
1st Vice President
Derrick A. Mills is a partner with the law firm of Marsh, Rickard & Bryan in Birmingham, Alabama, where he handles all types of civil litigation on behalf of plaintiffs, including product liability, insurance fraud and bad faith, wrongful death and medical malpractice. Derrick is a former Alabama State Bar Commissioner, former Alabama State Bar Committee member, Past President of the Magic City Bar Association, and he has been annually recognized as a Super Lawyer for the State of Alabama and the Mid-South. While Derrick has obtained multi million dollar verdicts, judgments, and settlements on behalf of his clients, he is most proud of giving back to the community. Derrick and his wife, Tamesha, created a foundation and award thousands annually to students at Fayette High School, the University of North Alabama, and the University of Alabama School of Law.
Derrick Mills
2nd Vice President
Christy began practicing law with the firm now known as Jinks Crow in 1997. With over 25 years of experience in civil litigation. Christy has represented individuals and families throughout Alabama and Georgia in claims involving personal injuries, wrongful death, product liability, class actions, and a variety of other claims. Christy served as the President of the Alabama State Bar in 2019-2020. Christy is a past chair of the Women's Caucus of ALAJ. Christy and her husband, Van Wadsworth, continue to live in Union Springs and have three children and a son-in-law.
Christina D. Crow
Secretary
Bo is a member of Belt, Bruner & Barnett in Birmingham. Bo focuses his practice on complex personal injury and wrongful death cases, including products liability claims, construction related injuries, commercial vehicle cases and medical malpractice. He and his firm have also developed a niche practice handling third-party negligent / bad faith failure to settle claims against liability insurers on behalf of defendants financially devastated by verdicts in excess of their insurance coverage. Bo is board certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. In addition to board certification, Bo has been recognized as among the “Top 50: Alabama Super Lawyers” and included in The Best Lawyers in America for his work in product liability litigation. He also holds the “AV Preeminent” rating conferred by the national legal publication Martindale-Hubbell.
Robert "Bo" Bruner
Treasurer
Wes Laird began his own law firm in Covington County in 1987, now known as Laird, Baker & Blackstock in Opp. Wes concentrates his practice in personal injury and wrongful death, with a primary focus on trucking litigation. He is a sustaining and executive member of ALAJ, a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), and has been recognized by the National Trial Lawyers Association as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Alabama. Wes is President of the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of Southern Independent Bank, which he helped organize in 2006. Wes is married to Deidra Rice Laird and they have two daughters who are both married with careers in Huntsville.
Wes Laird
Immediate Past President
Board of Directors
(2024-2025)
Ginger Avery
Alabama Association for Justice
Executive Team
Our History
ALAJ has been a constant, powerful influence for more than half a century. Leaders in generation after generation have stood up on behalf of their brethren to better their profession. The names echo in the annals of our state’s history – Hare, Hogan, Cunningham, Heflin, Hobbs, Hornsby, Cook.
According to the history written by the late Francis H. Hare, Sr., who served as president from 1954-1955, the late W. E. Brobston of Bessemer had this dream of a better civil justice system for the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s attorney. He brought his dream to fruition in 1953 when he founded the Alabama Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Association, known as the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, and served as the Association’s first president. In effect, it was the Alabama Branch of the National Association of Claimants Compensation Attorneys (founded in 1946), which was known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.
Our first publication was called the APLA Bulletin. In April 1953, the first APLA Bulletin was printed. It consisted of only five pages plus one and a half pages listing the membership as of March 14, 1953. ATLA’s first printed issue of the Journal was in 1957. In this Journal, Francis Hare, Sr. and Ed Brobston were asked to write a brief statement on what our Association stands for. This is what they wrote:
“It is the purpose of this Association to maintain the practice of personal injury law on the loftiest plain from the standpoint of skill and integrity.”
In October 1973, we began a bi-monthly newsletter and established a political trust fund known as Trust Representing Involved Alabama Lawyers (TRIAL). On August 6, 1974, the American Trial Lawyers Association selected the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association as the “Most Outstanding State Association.”
In June 2007, the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association changed its name to the Alabama Association for Justice. The name “Trial Lawyers Association” was what we called ourselves and did not reflect what we did. Our mission is not about helping ourselves, but rather about protecting and strengthening the civil justice system for everyone. Our name should be about what we do, not who we are.
Past ALAJ Presidents
Presidents of the Alabama Association for Justice serve a one year term acting as the standard-bearer for the Trial Lawyer profession. Their responsibilities include overseeing the activities of the other officers, heading the association's legislative efforts and ensuring the staff maintain the day to day activities of the organization.