Voted a “Super Lawyer” at just age 40, Brian has obtained millions of dollars in financial awards for Alabama employees.
Biography
Brian primarily helps people who have experienced workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. He has served clients at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and in nearly every trial and appellate court associated with the State of Alabama, including Alabama district and circuit courts, the Alabama Supreme Court, the Northern, Middle, and Southern United States District Courts, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Brian’s clients are diverse and range from retail employees to university athletic directors and from waiters to medical professionals.
In the past, Brian advised Fortune 500 corporations on state and federal employment laws, represented major corporations in litigation, and, in his capacity as a judicial law clerk, assisted a United States District Court judge with lawsuits of every type and size. He has experience serving as a litigator at one of Alabama’s oldest and most prestigious defense firms and was once a trial lawyer for one of the largest and most reputable employment law defense firms in the world. Prior to joining Capstone Law, Brian worked with a former President of the National Employment Lawyers’ Association where he represented employees in all aspects of litigation ranging from discovery disputes to jury trials and dispositive motions to appellate briefs. Brian has also served as a legal writing professor for Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. For several years, he taught law students the fundamentals of legal research, synthesis, analysis, and both written and oral advocacy.
Brian’s success in law can be attributed to his unique experiences in and outside the legal profession. Like many of his clients, Brian comes from a modest background. He supported himself in the latter years of high school by working two jobs and then took advantage of the GI Bill to pay for college. During the summers, he traveled the Mississippi River, serving as a deckhand on various towboats. His first career was in the United States Army where he served in the Military Intelligence Corps. Brian entered the service as a Private and left as a Captain. During the last three months of a year-long deployment to Baghdad, Iraq, Brian began studying for the Law School Admission Test. Brian sat for the exam only six days after returning home. He enrolled in law school a few months later and ultimately graduated second in his class.
Brian enjoys musical theater, backpacking, studying history and religion, and exploring outside with his two sons and his dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named “Enzo.” In addition to his military career, Brian dabbled with acting prior to pursuing law, including some semi-professional work. A few of the more popular characters Brian played on the stage include Danny (Grease), Charlie Brown (You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown), and Seymour (Little Shop of Horrors). Brian is also a member of the International Association of Counselors and Therapists through which he holds a certification in hypnotherapy. In that capacity, Brian enjoys volunteering his time to work with, among others, Alabama’s combat veterans.
Areas of Practice
- Employment Law
- Civil Appeals (State and Federal)
- Civil Rights Litigation
- Retaliation/Whistleblower Rights
- Employment Discrimination
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII)
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
- Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA)
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
- Wage & Hour Law under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Bar Admissions
- Alabama, 2010
- U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court Middle District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Alabama
Education
Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama
- Juris Doctor, Summa Cum Laude, top 1%
- Honors: Presidential and M. Alan Stephens Scholarship Recipient, Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, Legal Writing Program Teachers’ Aide (“CF”), “booked” 9 separate law school classes, Phi Alpha Delta
- Cumberland Law Review (Executive Board, Articles & Symposium Editor)
University of Mississippi
- Bachelor of Arts
- Major: Political Science, Military Science (Army ROTC)
Professional Associations
- Alabama State Bar
- National Employment Lawyers Association
- Alabama Employment Lawyers Association
- Veteran of Foreign Wars
- American Legion
- Birmingham Bar Association
Honors
- Named to the 2022 Mid-South Super Lawyers list
- Avvo’s “Top Attorney” and “Client’s Choice” Awards
- Martindale-Hubbell Stellar Peer Reviews and Client Champion Award (Gold Tier)
- Named to the 2015 and 2016 Mid-South Rising Star list
- Named “Lawyer of Distinction” for Civil Litigation
- Pat Shield’s Outstanding Leadership Award
- Scholar of Merit Award
- Judge Abraham Caruthers – Fellow
Representative Matters
- Satterwhite v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United, Inc., No. 2:19-CV-868-WKW (M.D. Ala. May 3, 2023)
- Chandler v. Louisiana-Pac. Corp., 2022 WL 15570702 (S.D. Ala. Oct. 27, 2022)
- Lawson-McCants v. National Mentor Heathcare, LLC, Case No. 2:21-cv-01305-SGC (Ala. N.D. 2022) – you can learn more @ The Daily Beast
- Miles v. Walmart Associates, Inc., Case No. 4:19-cv-00756-CLM (Ala. N.D. 2022)
- Carrillo v. Air Flow Products Inc., 2:18CV00986 (N.D. Ala. January 22, 2021)
- Collins v. Koch Foods Inc., 2020 WL 1820812 (N.D. Ala. Apr. 10, 2020)
- Fulmer v. PCH Hotels & Resorts, Inc., 2020 WL 1929406 (N.D. Ala. Apr. 21, 2020)
- Garren v. CVS Rx Servs., Inc., 2020 WL 5097154 (E.D. Tenn. Aug. 28, 2020)
- Herren v. La Petite Acad., Inc., 2020 WL 3967811 (11th Cir. July 14, 2020)
- Lewis v. United States Steel Corp., 2019 WL 6829993 (N.D. Ala. Dec. 13, 2019)
- Holton v. Bama Lanes Prattville, LLC, 2019 WL 6712085 (M.D. Ala. Dec. 9, 2019)
- Kimtron, Inc. v. Whaley, 01-CV-2016-902191 (Ala. Cir. Ct. June 15, 2016)
- Burch v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United, 608 F. App’x 916 (11th Cir. 2015)
- Moses v. State Farm Ins., 2015 WL 404264 (N.D. Ala. Jan. 29, 2015)
- Carroll v. Office Depot, Inc., 62 F. Supp. 3d 1282 (N.D. Ala. 2014)
- Jett v. Wooten, 110 So. 3d 850 (Ala. 2012)
Published Works
- Guantanamo Detainees are Entitled to the Privilege of Habeas Corpus Under the U.S. Constitution, Boumediene v. Bush, 39:1 CUMB. L. REV. 341 , 2008
- Eleventh Circuit Survey: Civil Procedure – Relation Back of Amendments, Makro Capital of America, Inc. v. UBS AG, 39:3 CUMB. L. REV. 22, 2009
- Change You Shouldn’t Believe In: Why the FRSA Clarification Amendment Doesn’t Narrow the Scope of Preemption in State Tort Actions, 40:1 CUMB. L. REV. 243 , 2010
Classes & Seminars
- Lawyering and Legal Reasoning Professor, Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Alabama, 2016 to 2019
- Adjunct Professor, 2016, Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham, Alabama, 2015, Comparative Law Program Instructor
- Presented to BSHRM on recent NLRB rulings and impact on non-union employers
- Co-presented at NELA-AL on litigating employment cases from the federal clerk’s perspective
Past Positions
- Honorable Charles Lynwood Smith Jr., United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Judicial Law Clerk
