Phelps, Jenkins, Gibson & Fowler, L.L.P.

About this office:

Phelps, Jenkins, Gibson & Fowler, L.L.P., one of West Alabama's largest and oldest law firms, provides a broad range of legal services to individual, corporate, and institutional clients statewide. The firm is large enough to offer diverse legal expertise yet small enough to be hands-on, with senior partners directly involved in a high percentage of cases.

The firm was officially organized in 1968 by senior partner Sam M. Phelps as a successor to Mize, Spiro & Phelps, a Tuscaloosa firm founded in the 1940s. Since its inception, the Phelps firm has evolved to include a well-balanced mix of attorneys who practice in virtually all areas of the law.

The business, tax and corporate division of Phelps, Jenkins is comprised of experienced partners and associates, most of whom hold advanced degrees in tax law from prestigious law schools throughout the United States. Attorneys in this division practice in the areas of industrial development, banking, commercial transactions, creditors' rights, business formations, sales and acquisitions of businesses, business financing, bonds and tax-exempt financing, securities, real estate development, condominium law, health care law, employee benefits and retirement plans, labor and employment, environmental law, intellectual property, tax procedure and litigation, estate planning and administration, and trusts.

Attorneys in the firm's litigation department practice in both state and federal courts. The firm's trial practice is primarily in the state courts of Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Bibb, Choctaw, Clarke, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marengo, Marion, Pickens, Sumter and Walker counties and the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of the federal court system in Alabama. Appellate work is handled in the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, the Alabama Supreme Court, the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits of the United States Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

Phelps, Jenkins' concentration in the litigation area is defense oriented; however, approximately one-third of the firm's civil litigation is undertaken on behalf of plaintiffs, particularly in the areas of business and commercial litigation.

The firm's litigation division includes lawyers who have substantial expertise and experience in many different areas including: employment discrimination, medical malpractice defense, motor vehicle accidents, product liability, workers compensation, school law, family law, insurance law, real estate, local government law, and business, tax, and corporate-related litigation matters. Among Phelps, Jenkins' clients are several banking and financial institutions as well as many new and established local businesses. The firm also serves as local counsel for many national corporations. In addition to its corporate and business clients, the firm takes pride in its ability to provide, personal service to the individual or business needing advice on a one-time basis or for a single legal matter.

The Phelps firm has two partners from the litigation division who are members of the Alabama Center for Dispute Resolution. These partners offer mediation services as an alternative to litigation.

Attorneys at Phelps, Jenkins, Gibson & Fowler, L.L.P take great pride in the leadership roles they assume throughout the West Alabama community. Members of the firm serve in leadership positions with a variety of non-profit and governmental organizations, including: the American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters of West Alabama, Boy's and Girl's Club of West Alabama, Challenge 21, Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, Children's Hands on Museum (CHOM),Civil Service Board for the City of Tuscaloosa, DCH Regional Medical Center, the DCH Foundation, Friends of Alabama Public Radio, Kid One Transport System, Leadership Tuscaloosa, Riverfront Development Committee, Tuscaloosa Arts Partners, Tuscaloosa Children's Center, Tuscaloosa City Schools Education Foundation, Tuscaloosa Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the United Way of West Alabama.