Deborah Alley Smith
Christian & Small LLP
1800 Financial Center
505 North 20th Street
Birmingham, Alabama 35203

Tel:  205.250.6627
Fax: 205.328.7234
email: das@csattorneys.com

Download vCard

PARTNER

Practice Areas
Appellate, Post-Verdict
  and Briefing
Insurance
Business & Commercial
  Litigation

Admitted to Practice
Alabama, 1985

Education
University of Tennessee, 1982, B.A., English, Political Science

University of Alabama, 1985, J.D. (Alabama Law Review, Senior Editor; Bench and Bar Legal Honor Society)

A founding member of Christian & Small, Debbie Smith is the head of the firm’s Appellate, Post-Verdict and Briefing practice group. Her practice is devoted to civil litigation with primary emphasis on appellate practice. She has been involved in numerous appeals to the Alabama Supreme Court, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits. Debbie also has successfully briefed and argued cases before the United States Supreme Court. She is AV® rated.

Professional Honors and Affiliations

• Included in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America for Appellate Law and Commercial Litigation
• Birmingham Business Journal, "Best of the Birmingham Bar"
• Alabama Defense Lawyers Association
• Listed as one Alabama's Super Lawyers for Appellate
• Listed as one of the Top 25 Women Lawyers in Alabama, a list comprised of the women lawyers who received the highest number of points in the 2008 Alabama Super Lawyers nomination, research and blue ribbon review process.
• Defense Research Institute
• Alabama Lawyer, Editorial Board, 1992-98
• Alabama State Bar, Chair, Appellate Practice Section, 2004; Co-Chair, Appellate Practice Section, 2003
• Alabama Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Alabama Rules of Appellate Procedure, 2004-present
• American Inns of Court
• Council of Appellate Lawyers
• Member of the Mediator Roster of the Alabama Center for Dispute Resolution and the Alabama Supreme
• Court’s Appellate Mediation Roster
• Instructor at the Trial Academy sponsored by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and The Alabama Defense Lawyers Association
• American Bar Association
• Alabama State Bar Association
• Birmingham Bar Association
• Included in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America for

Representative Reported Decisions

• Samara Consulting Group v. S& Davis Int’l, Inc., 2006 WL2990214 (11th Cir., Oct. 14, 2006)
• Systrends,v. Group 8760 LLC, 2006 WL 2925323 (Ala., October 13, 2006)
• Holcomb v. Carraway, 2006 WL 1046459 (Ala. April 12, 2006)
• Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London v. Southern Nat’l Gas co., 939 So. 2d 21 (Ala. 2006)
• Ameritas Variable Life Ins. Co. v. Roach, 411 F.3d 1328 (11th Cir. 2005)
• Black v. Comer, 920 So. 2d 1083 (Ala. 2005)
• Thompson Properties 119AA 370 Ltd. v. Birmingham Hide & Tallow Co., 897 So. 2d 248 (Ala. 2004)
• Blount Recycling LLC v. City of Cullman, 884 So. 2d 850 (Ala. 2003)
• Commercial Union Ins. Co. v. DeShazo, 845 So.2d 766 (Ala. 2002)
• Bain & Johnston v. Gray, 835 So. 2d 1034 (Ala. Civ. App. 2002)
• Thompson Properties, Inc. v. Birmingham Hide & Tallow, Inc., 839 So. 2d 629 (Ala. 2002)
• Slay v. Keller, Inc., 823 So. 2d 623 (Ala. 2001)
• Ex parte King, 821 So. 2d 205 (Ala. 2001)
• Ex parte MedPartners, Inc., 820 So. 2d 815 (Ala. 2001)
• Ex parte Showers, 812 So. 2d 277 (Ala. 2001)
• Baker v. Letica Corporation, 785 So. 2d 1142 (Ala. 2000)
• Williams v. Harold L. Martin Distributing Co., Inc., 769 So.2d 316 (Ala.Civ.App. 2000)
• Ex parte Cardiovascular Associates, P.C., 776 So.2d 49 (Ala. 2000)
• Shepherd v. Summit Management Co., Inc., 794 So.2d 1110 (Ala.Civ.App. 2000)
• Allstate Ins. Co. v. Hardnett, 763 So.2d 963 (Ala. 2000).
• Ex parte Harold L. Martin Distributing Co., Inc., 769 So. 2d 313 (Ala. 2000)
• Bice v. SCI Alabama Funeral Home Services, 764 So.2d 1280 (Ala.Civ.App. 2000)
• Tuders v. Kell, 739 So.2d 1069 (Ala.1999)
• City of Tuscaloosa v. Harcros Chemicals, Inc., 158 F.3d 548 (11th Cir.1998), cert. denied 528 U.S. 812 (1999)
• Shepherd v. Summit Management Co., Inc., 726 So.2d 686 (Ala.Civ.App) cert. denied (Ala.1998)
• Liberty Nat. Life Ins. Co. v. Allen, 699 So.2d 138 (Ala.1997)
• Alabama Plating Co. v. U.S. Fidelity and Guar. Co., 690 So.2d 331 (Ala. 1996)
• Ex parte Smith, 686 So. 2d 245 (Ala. 1996)
• Malcolm v. King, 686 So. 2d 231 (Ala. 1996)
• Ex parte Gargis, 686 So.2d 278 (Ala. 1996)
• Consolidated Stores Inc. v. Gargis, 686 So. 2d 268 (Ala.Civ.App. 1996)
• Brown v. Whitaker Contracting Corp., 681 So.2d 226 (Ala.Civ.App.) cert. denied (Ala.1996)
• Barron v. CNA Ins. Co., 678 So. 2d 735 (Ala. 1996)
• Daniel v. Adkins, 676 So. 2d 346 (Ala.Civ.App. 1996)
• Ex parte Noble Trucking Co., Inc., 675 So. 2d 356 (Ala. 1996)
• Schiffman v. City of Irondale, 669 So. 2d 136 (Ala. 1995)
• McCluskey v. McCraw, 672 So.2d 805 (Ala.Civ.App.), cert denied (Ala. 1995)
• Sanders v. Martin, 662 So. 2d 241 (Ala. 1995)
• H & H Wood Co. v. Monticello Ins. Co., 668 So.2d 38 (Ala.Civ.App. 1995)
• Graham v. Sprout-Waldron and Co., 657 So.2d 868 (Ala. 1995)
• Evans v. Fruehauf Corp., 647 So.2d 718 (Ala. 1994)
• Ex parte St. Vincent's Hosp., 652 So. 2d 225 (Ala. 1994)
• Drummond Co., Inc. v. Boshell, 641 So.2d 1240 (Ala. 1994)
• Bozeman v. Busby, 639 So.2d 501 (Ala. 1994)
• Gober v. Khalaf, 628 So.2d 416 (Ala. 1993)
• Patterson v. Hays, 623 So.2d 1142 (Ala. 1993)
• Harmon v. Blackwood, 623 So. 2d 726 (Ala. 1993)
• Cahaba Land Associates, Inc. v. Secor Bank, 619 So. 2d 1372 (Ala. 1993)
• Williams v. Delta Intern. Machinery Corp., 619 So.2d 1330 (Ala. 1993)(amicus curiae)
• West Town Plaza Associates, Ltd. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 619 So. 2d 1290 (Ala. 1993)
• Upchurch v. Universal Underwriters Ins. Co., 610 So. 2d 1163 (Ala.Civ.App.), cert. quashed as improvidently granted (Ala. 1992)
• LeFevre v. Westberry, 590 So.2d 154 (Ala. 1991)
• Withers v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 580 So. 2d 582 (Ala. 1991)
• Ex parte Kimbrel, 579 So.2d 1335 (Ala. 1991).
• Spradlin v. Drennen Cadillac Co., Inc., 578 So. 2d 1251 (Ala. 1991)
• Smith v. Fruehauf Corp., 580 So. 2d 570 (Ala. 1991)
• Miller v. Norwood Clinic, Inc., 577 So. 2d 860 (Ala. 1991)
• Fox v. Hollar Co., Inc., 576 So. 2d 223 (Ala. 1991)
• Sprouse v. Hawk, 574 So.2d 754 (Ala. 1990)
• Wakefield v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 572 So.2d 1220 (Ala. 1990)
• Ailey v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 570 So. 2d 598 (Ala. 1990)
• Clardy v. Sanders, 551 So. 2d 1057 (Ala.), cert. denied 493 U.S. 959 (1989)
• Davis v. Mims, 510 So. 2d 227 (Ala. 1987)
• Silas v. U.S. Fidelity & Guar. Co., 503 So.2d 861 (Ala.Civ.App. 1987)
• Rice v. Deas, 504 So. 2d 220 (Ala. 1986)

Court Admissions

• Alabama State Bar
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
• United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama
• United States District Court, Middle District of Alabama
• United States District Court, Southern District of Alabama

Publications

• "Certiorari Practice: What You Need to Know," 17 Birmingham Bar Association Bulletin 18, Summer 1996
• "The Nuts and Bolts of Civil Appeals," 56 Alabama Lawyer 304, September 1995
• "Comparative Fault: A Primer: What Happens When The Lid Flies Off Pandora’s Box," 54 Alabama Lawyer 56, January 1993
• "Comparative Fault," Alabama Defense Lawyers Association Journal, Vol. 8 No. 2, October 1992
• "A Controversial Settling of a Settlement Controversy: The Supreme Court Declares the Federal Arbitration Act Preemptive of State laws and Applicable in State Courts," 36 Ala. L. Rev. 273, Fall 1984
• "A Practitioners Guide to Post-Judgment Motions"  download pdf
• "Opposing Petitions for Writs of Certiorari"  download pdf
• "Arguing for a Change in the Law: Can You? Should You? If So, How?"  download pdf
• "Successful Rehearing and Certiorari in the Alabama Courts"  download pdf

Back to top