Giving Back to the Birmingham Community

GIVING BACK TO THE BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY

The attorneys and staff of the Law Offices of Thomas J. Skinner, IV, do more than simply provide legal services to our clients. We are all firm believers of being actively involved and a part of our community. Each of us is involved in many different activities in addition to law.

THOMAS J. SKINNER, IV 

In addition to his law practice, Mr. Skinner is a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps where he serves as the Chief of Military Justice for the 167th Theater Sustainment Command with the Alabama Army National Guard. In 2013, Major Skinner deployed to Southwest Asia where he served in Kuwait and Qatar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.  Mr. Skinner regularly speaks to school groups, scout groups and community groups relating to his military service.

In addition, Mr. Skinner is active in his church, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, where he has served as a past president of the St. Francis Xavier Church Pastoral Counsel. Mr. Skinner is active in the community where he has served both as the Cubmaster of Cub Scout pack 63 and an Assistant Scout Master for Boy Scout Troop 28 with the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Skinner is an avid outdoorsmen and conservationist, and he has served as a Board of Director member of SCI of Alabama, Inc., a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization, and he currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and Secretary of the Birmingham Chapter and is a member of the State Board of Directors of the Coastal Conservation Association of Alabama, Inc., a conservation organization dedicated to improving the coastal marine waters of Alabama.

CHEROKEE WOOLEY

Cherokee Wooley is also active in the community. Mrs. Wooley is active at Trinity United Methodist Church in Homewood, Alabama, where she serves on both the Staff-Parish Relations Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee. She also teaches adult Sunday school, and she is active with both the children and youth ministry missions of the church. In addition to being an active member of the church, Mrs. Wooley is an active member of the Homewood school system’s Parent Teacher Oranization. Mrs. Wooley has been active with the PTO at the elementary, middle school and high school levels.

LARRY SPARKS

Like Mr. Skinner, Larry Sparks has served our country retiring as Colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in December 2008 with 37 years of total service. Mr. Sparks in an active member in the City of Hoover community where he worked on the committee to form an independent school district, served as president of the PTO of Bluff Park Elementary School, served as president of the Student-Athlete Buccaneer Fund, and coached girls softball for nine year. Mr. Sparks in active in his church, Shades Mountain Baptist Church, and Mr. Sparks is a leading Rotarian in the Hoover Rotary Club where he has served as the past president, Paul Harris Fellow, and board member. He now serves as an Assistant District Governor for Rotary District 6860.

CARLA JOHNSON

The outside community involvement is not limited to our attorneys. Our paralegal Carla Johnson is a sustainer member of the Junior League of Birmingham, and she is an active member of St. Stephens Episcopal Church.

COURTNEY MOORE

Courtney Moore, our legal secretary and administrative assistant, is also a current member of the Junior League of Birmingham, and she is active with the Cavalier Rescue of Alabama.

We believe in supporting our community, and the firm regularly contributes to the support of a wide range of community events and activities including the Birmingham Zoo, the Linley Heflin Unit Scholarship Fund, Relay for Life, the Ballet Guild of Birmingham, Ducks Unlimited and the Coastal Conservation Association.

 

Firm Beginnings at 2164 11th Avenue South

The firm was first opened in June 1, 2008, in the Mountain Brook Center on Highway 280 in Birmingham, Alabama. In the early winter of 2012, Mr. Skinner had the opportunity to acquire the firm’s current location at 2164 11^th Avenue South. The building was the former Catholic Services Building in the Historic Five Points South district in the City of Birmingham. Mr. Skinner, through his company Lookout Mountain Land & Mineral, LLC, acquired the property which had been vacant for almost a decade.

With the assistance of Thornton Hydinger of Hydinger, Stewart & Chew Commercial Properties, Williams Blackstock Architects, Nancy L. Jernigan, Interior Design and Rives Construction Company, the building was transformed into one of most modern and technologically advanced law firms in the city. When the building was acquired, the interior had been gutted leaving a blank slate for buildout. With all the interior workings of the building exposed, a complete new digital interface was installed throughout the office building. In addition, nonstructural walls were removed and open to allow a spectacular view of the Birmingham city skyline. While impressive during the day, the view is stunning at night. [insert photo]

The entire transformation took approximately four months to complete, and the attorneys, staff and clients of the firm have enjoyed the firm’s convenient location and spectacular views of the Birmingham skyline ever since.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet The Firm

Thomas J. “Jay” Skinner— Managing Partner
Before forming the firm in 2008, Mr. Skinner was a shareholder with a 30+ lawyer firm located in Birmingham, Alabama, where he practiced in the areas of real estate law and title insurance, general civil litigation, defense of workers compensation claims, and defense of Federal Black Lung claims. Mr. Skinner is a 1990 graduate of the University of Alabama with a B.S. in Commerce and Business Administration with a Major in Real Estate, and he is a 1993 graduate of Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. Mr. Skinner was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1993. He has also held a Real Estate Broker’s License in the State of Alabama since 1992. Mr. Skinner is peer review rated “AV” with Martindale-Hubbell. Mr. Skinner is a member of the Alabama Bar Association, Birmingham Bar Association, and the Dixie Land Title Association. Mr. Skinner was also a member of the Alabama Real Estate Lawyers Association (First VP 1997-1998; President 1998-1999). Mr. Skinner is licensed to practice law in the State of Alabama, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the Supreme Court of the United States. In addition to his civilian practice, Mr. Skinner is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, serving as the Chief of Military Justice at the 167th Theater Sustainment Command where he oversees all military justice matters for the Alabama Army National Guard. In 2013, Lt. Colonel Skinner deployed to Southwest Asia where he served in Kuwait and Qatar in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Mr. Skinner, a resident of Mountain Brook, Alabama, is also active in his community where he served as the President of the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church Pastoral Council, worked with the Boy Scouts of America as Cubmaster of Cub Scout Pack 63 and Assistant Scoutmaster at Boy Scout Troop 28, served as a board member of SCI of Alabama, Inc., a conservation organization, and currently serves as a board member of Alabama Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association.
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