Montgomery lawyer Gibson Vance is set to become the 147th president of the Alabama State Bar in 2022.
A principal at the Beasley Allen Law Firm, Vance was installed as president-elect of the state legal organization at its annual meeting last week.
Vance said he looks forward to giving back to a group with which he has been involved for many years.
“I have been a long-time member of the Alabama State Bar, and it will be an honor to assist the incoming administration and prepare to help lead the organization next year,” he remarked in a statement from his firm.
Vance follows current bar president Taze Shepard, an attorney in Huntsville.
Vance will be the third member of Beasley Allen to serve as president. Tom Methvin and Cole Portis each served previously in the position.
A native of Troy and son of a schoolteacher, Vance worked his way through Troy State University and Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law and is now an attorney in one of the most high-profile trial firms in the country. He continues to support Troy University as president pro tempore of the school’s board of trustees.
He has spent his entire 28-year career focused on representing individuals who have been injured or mistreated.
This is the second time in less than a week that Beasley Allen has seen one of its principals elected to a leadership position in the legal profession.
Navan Ward, a principal in the firm’s Atlanta office, was elected as president of the American Association for Justice (AAJ). Ward was installed as the association’s 75th president. He is only the second minority to hold the position.
Following his installment as president of AAJ, Ward expressed appreciation to his fellow lawyers at Beasley Allen and affirmed his commitment to carrying out the mission of AAJ.
“On many different levels and across various landscapes, our country is rebuilding, so it is the perfect time to do the same within the American Association for Justice,” he said. “The AAJ is an organization that advocates for access to justice and works to preserve the rights given by the 7th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It is important that the organization genuinely reflects the diversity that makes it great. I look forward to implementing strategies that will build on the work of the past presidents and strengthen our leadership moving forward.”
Founded in 1979, Beasley Allen is recognized as a leader in complex plaintiff litigation nationwide. The Montgomery-based firm also has offices in Mobile and Atlanta.
Tim Howe is an owner of Yellowhammer Multimedia
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