Samford University Cumberland School of Law graduate. School honors include: Research and Writing Editor, American Journal of Trial Advocacy; winner Haley Trial Competition; Caruthers Fellow; and Trial Board Member of the Year. Admitted to the Alabama State Bar and United States District Courts for the Northern Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama. Former staff law clerk to the Honorable Sharon Lovelace Blackburn, then Chief Judge of the Northern District of Alabama. Practiced in the area of professional liability and commercial insurance coverage litigation with Lloyd Gray Whitehead & Monroe before joining Ballard Law Office to replace Pat Ballard after his election to the bench in the Tenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama. Member of the James Edwin Horton Inn of Court; Alabama Association for Justice; and Birmingham Bar Association. Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A & M University, Suma Cum Laude, 1979.