Jeff primarily represents businesses and individuals in commercial litigation matters with a focus on defending financial and banking institutions in Directors & Officers and Errors & Omissions matters as well representing businesses as both plaintiffs and defendants in the area of competitive practices and intellectual property/trade secret protection. Jeff also has over a dozen years of experience in defending clients in cases involving products liability claims, first party insurance claims, fraud and financial torts and personal injury claims.
Jeff’s approach to litigation centers around the partnership between the client and its counsel. Effective representation of the client – representation that achieves both short term success in the immediate litigation as well as servicing the client’s long term business goals – is best achieved when counsel understands his client’s business, its people and its culture.
Jeff primarily represents businesses and individuals in commercial litigation matters with a focus on defending financial and banking institutions in Directors & Officers and Errors & Omissions matters as well representing businesses as both plaintiffs and defendants in the area of competitive practices and intellectual property/trade secret protection. Jeff also has over a dozen years of experience in defending clients in cases involving products liability claims, first party insurance claims, fraud and financial torts and personal injury claims.
Jeff’s approach to litigation centers around the partnership between the client and its counsel. Effective representation of the client – representation that achieves both short term success in the immediate litigation as well as servicing the client’s long term business goals – is best achieved when counsel understands his client’s business, its people and its culture.
In 2002, Jeff was admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and he is also a member of the firm's intellectual property team. In addition to his trial work, Jeff has significant experience in pre-suit investigation of commercial and corporate matters, mediation and insurance coverage disputes. Jeff is admitted to practice in all Federal District Courts in Alabama as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Prior to joining the firm in August of 2003, Jeff was a partner in the law firm of Barnett, Bugg, Lee & Dyess, LLC in Monroeville, Alabama, where he gained experience in the areas of real estate litigation and transactions, probate matters, commercial transactions and litigation and insurance defense. Through work at another firm, Jeff also served as the Assistant Prosecutor in Municipal and Circuit Courts for the City of Hoover, Alabama.
Jeff grew up in Monroeville and attended Auburn University from which he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree in 1990. After Auburn, Jeff worked as an engineer for IBM Corporation in the manufacturing facilities in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Jeff then attended Cumberland Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995. Following law school, Jeff had the honor of serving as a law clerk to the Honorable William M. Acker, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in Birmingham.