JAMES W. PORTER, II – Admitted to the Alabama Bar, 1974. Education: University of Alabama (B.A. 1971); Cumberland School of Law, Samford University (J.D. 1974). After serving a two-year clerkship under Honorable Virgil Pittman, the presiding Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama (1975-1977), Mr. Porter became an associate in the firm of Bishop, Sweeney and Colvin, where his responsibilities included handling matters for the Jefferson County Board of Education and an extensive practice before the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Alabama Public Service Commission. In 1979, he formed a partnership with Irvine Porter which became the present firm in 1985. Mr. Porter specializes in the representation of public entities with emphasis in defending civil rights tort claims. Mr. Porter presently serves as the Trial Counsel to Alabama Municipal Insurance Corporation, which insures over 450 public entities in Alabama. He staffs an 800 number for League members to call for purposes of consultation on employment practices and personnel issues. Other areas of expertise include the defense of products liability claims with emphasis on firearms litigation. Mr. Porter serves as Supervisory Counsel and Trial Counsel to various firearms manufacturers for claims brought both in Alabama, as well as other Southeastern jurisdictions. Among clients he has represented are Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.; International Armament Corporation; Carl Walther Waffenfabrik, GmBH; STAR Bonifacio Echeverria, S.A.; Amadeo Rossi, S.A.; Smith & Wesson.

David S. Hassinger – Mr. Hassinger was born in Birmingham, Alabama on September 29, 1949, and except time away from home at school, he has lived in Birmingham all of his life. Admitted to the Alabama Bar, 1975. Education: Graduated from University of Alabama (B.S. 1972);attended Cumberland School of Law, Samford University (J.D. 1975) Birmingham, Alabama. Currently admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Alabama and the 5th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeals. Mr. Hassinger has an “AV” rating in Martindale Hubbell.

Mr. Hassinger has practiced defense law, insurance law and insurance defense litigation with specialties in products liability law and workman’s compensation defense. Court litigation includes all types of products liability claims with emphasis on fire arms and fire arms defense litigation. Other litigation includes all types of tort litigation from simple slip and fall cases to defense of multi­defendant death cases. Mr. Hassinger has also practiced municipal litigation, and has successfully defended §42 U.S.C.1983 cases at the trial level and in the Supreme Court.

Mr. Hassinger practices extensively in the workman’s compensation area and has won numerous cases at the trial court and the Supreme Court level. Mr. Hassinger is considered an expert in this area and has lectured widely on workman’s compensation. He has been requested on numerous occasions to lecture employees of his clients on workman’s compensation issues and employment practices. Mr. Hassinger provides workman’s compensation defense for national clients, local municipalities, and insurance companies.

HOBART H. ARNOLD, III – Admitted to the Alabama Bar, 2003. In addition to being admitted to practice in all Courts in the State of Alabama, Mr. Arnold is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Alabama, as well as the Eleventh Circuit. Education: Auburn University (B.S. 1994); University of Alabama School of Law (J.D. 2003). Mr. Arnold has an AV Preeminent rating with Martindale-Hubbell.

In 2003, Mr. Arnold became an associate in a small general practice firm where he handled a variety of matters, including various civil, domestic relations and probate matters. In 2008, he joined Porter, Porter and Hassinger, P.C., as an associate, where his practice has been focused primarily on civil litigation, particularly in the areas of workers’ compensation and general liability, on the defense side. Among clients he has represented are Millennium Risk Managers, LLC; Asplundh Tree Expert Co.; Burford’s Tree, Inc.; Utility Lines Construction Services; Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC; and Liberty Mutual.

Mr. Arnold has successfully defended his clients at the trial level. Of cases that he has tried to a conclusion, he has received a number of defense verdicts on behalf of his clients. He has also obtained a recent summary judgment in favor of an employer in a workers’ compensation case. Mr. Arnold has also prepared briefs at the Appellate level before the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.

Mr. Arnold is an active member of the Birmingham Bar Association, particularly in the Workers’ Compensation and Probate Sections. In the community, Mr. Arnold has served on the Board of Directors for Oak Mountain Youth Baseball and Softball, and serves in his church’s prison ministry.

Richard Warren Kinney. III. Warren received his J.D. from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in 2005, and received an M.S. in Environmental Management from Samford in 2005 also. He graduated with an B.A. in Sociology in 1999 from Kenyon College in Gambier, OH.

The majority of Warren’s practice is devoted to representing municipalities and other local governmental entities in civil litigation regarding matters ranging from personal injury actions to novel theories of alleged violations of the U.S. Constitution. He also frequently represents employers and companies, both local and multinational, in defending lawsuits involving claims of employment discrimination, negligence and products liability. Among some of his most recent significant achievements, Warren obtained a defense verdict in a civil rights case brought in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama alleging excessive force by a Chief of Police in effecting an arrest, and summary judgment in favor of an employer in a lawsuit alleging discrimination in violation of Title VII. Warren is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Alabama, as well as the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.