Albert N. Thiel, Jr. received his Bachelors of Arts degree in Philosophy in 1970 from St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, Md. After serving in U.S. Army Intelligence from 1970 to 1973, he studied law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1976.

He completed a Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance in 1983 at the Robert O. Anderson School of Business at the University of New Mexico.

Al was admitted to the New Mexico State Bar and to the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico in 1976. He was admitted to the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1980, and to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. Al was a member of a Los Angeles litigation firm and headed the firm's Albuquerque office before joining Will Ferguson & Associates in 1999. Since 1983, his primary area of emphasis has been personal injury litigation.