First things first, I am married to Jeanne Rogers, and am the proud father of three children who (as of March 2014) are 37 (a son practicing public interest environmental law), 32 (a daughter, an investment advisor in Birmingham), and 28 (a daughter who is at an architectural firm in Atlanta). Aside from them, I enjoy reading, gardening, walking 3 miles daily, and helping to resolve issues which affect the construction industry, nationally, regionally, and locally.
Professionally, I suppose I have received some of my very best training when I was a carpenter's helper, as a boy in high school, assisting with the small jobs which a small-town contractor has.
Since then, I left the deep south (Demopolis, AL) and journeyed to Yale, where some of the most interesting and brightest young people in the world helped me get the straw out of my hair. I then taught school in an inner-city high school in Philadelphia, PA, and I pursued graduate courses in the philosophy of education at Temple University. Continuing my effort to absorb sophistication, learning, and charm, I attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1974, with good grades and the regard of my classmates, who elected me Class Secretary.
After a clerkship with a fine Federal Judge, the late Seybourne H. Lynne, I took employment with Bradley Arant in 1975.
My philosophy as a lawyer is to do the job well, as economically as is feasible under the circumstances, and with honor and pride. I am still a carpenter, in philosophy, if not in profession.