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JOHN R. MARTIN is of counsel and practices in the estate planning group of the law firm of Najjar Denaburg, P.C., where he focuses on advising individuals and families on the generational wealth transfer process and retirement planning, as well as probate and trust matters. Mr. Martin has 30 years of experience with a regional bank's trust department, where he concentrated in estate planning and wealth preservation. He is admitted to the Alabama State Bar and is active in the Birmingham Bar Association and the Estate Planning Council of Birmingham. Mr. Martin also has served on the faculty for Alabama Continuing Legal Education, the Southern Trust School and he is an accredited estate planner. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama and his J.D. degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. BRUCE A. RAWLS is a partner in the Birmingham office of Burr & Forman LLP, where he practices primarily in the areas of income tax, estate tax and business planning for individuals and closely held businesses, as well as state and federal tax litigation. He served as special counsel to the Alabama Commission on Tax & Fiscal Policy Reform and was the principal author of its corporate franchise tax/shares tax reform legislation. Mr. Rawls is an adjunct faculty member teaching federal income tax at the Cumberland School of Law. Mr. Rawls frequently lectures and writes on tax topics. He is a member of the Birmingham and American bar associations (State and Local Taxes Committee, Taxation Section and Real Property, Probate and Trust Section) and the Alabama State Bar (member, Taxation Section). Mr. Rawls also is a member of Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, a professional organization devoted to the special problems of counseling and advising closely-held and family business enterprises, the Birmingham Estate Planning Council and the Birmingham Tax Forum. He earned his B.S. degree from the University of Alabama, his J.D. degree from Cumberland School of Law and his LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law. Mr. Rawls served as research editor of the Cumberland Law Review. JOHN S. SOMERSET is a partner in the Birmingham law firm of Sudderth and Somerset Attorneys, where he practices in the areas of domestic, taxation, corporation, personal injury and probate law. Before being in private practice, Mr. Somerset was the assistant district attorney for Madison County. He is a member of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, the Alabama State Bar, the Birmingham Bar Association, the Bar for the Northern, Middle and Southern districts of Alabama and the Bar for the 11th Circuit of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. He earned his B.S. degree from Samford University and his J.D. degree from the Cumberland School of Law. SIDNEY C. SUMMEY is a partner in the firm of White, Arnold & Dowd, P.C., in Birmingham, with 30 years of experience in the legal profession. Much of Mr. Summey's practice involves decedent's estates, the representation of conservators of the estates of minors who have received personal injury awards and other disabled persons, special needs trusts, and the elderly. He is a frequent lecturer on basic and advanced probate, probate for litigators, special needs trusts, Medicaid issues and elder law. He currently serves on the faculty of the Birmingham School of Law, where he teaches trusts and elder law. Mr. Summey also served on the adjunct faculty of the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University for five years, teaching courses in residential and commercial real estate transactions, and he is widely published, including an article titled, "Handling Lawsuits for Minors, Decedents and the Disabled," ATLA Journal (Vol. 20, No. 1, Winter 2000). He earned his A.F.A. degree from Young Harris College in Georgia, his B.A. degree from Gardner Webb University in North Carolina, his J.D. degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, and has further studied at the University of Nice in France. Mr. Summey is a charter member of the Elder Law Section of the Alabama State Bar, is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, has served on the CLE and Fee Arbitration committees of the Birmingham Bar Association, and was vice chairperson of the Solo and Small Firm Practitioners Committee of the Alabama State Bar. He serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, and is admitted to practice before all state and local federal district courts, the U.S. Tax Court and the 5th and 11th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
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