Published on April 9, 2015 by Mary Wimberley  

Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law will recognize four individuals for special distinction on Friday, April 10, during its annual reunion weekend activities.

Honorees are Richard W. Moore, Class of 1977, Distinguished Alumnus of the Year; Khristi Doss Driver, Class of 2000, Young Alumna of the Year; William “Billy” T. Coplin, Jr., Class of 1977, Volunteer of the Year; and Kimberly R. West, Friend of the Law School.

Cumberland Dean Henry C. Strickland will present the awards.

Moore, inspector general of the Tennessee Valley Authority, is a former assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Alabama, where he also was Anti-Terrorism Task Force coordinator and chief of the criminal division.

He was appointed to his present post by President George W. Bush in 2003 to provide oversight of the operation, expenditures and legality of the nation’s largest utility. Moore has been cited for bringing transparency to the TVA and change in the agency’s policies on environmental issues. Moore’s Cumberland award recognizes his distinguished practice of law, service to the community and leadership in the profession.

Driver, assistant to the executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer for Southern Company, is a former equity partner in a Birmingham law firm. She is a member of the Birmingham Bar Association’s Executive Committee, which she serves as secretary and as a board member of its Women Lawyers’ Section. 

Her community service includes leadership roles in education, business and the arts, and membership on the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Birmingham Business Alliance. Cumberland’s Young Alumnus of the Year award recognizes an outstanding graduate of the last 15 years.

Coplin, who has assisted in multiple facets of the Cumberland program, was cited for his exceptional volunteer service to the law school and its constituents.  

A veteran member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, Coplin assisted in planning and arranging speakers for Cumberland’s 2015  American Journal of Trial Advocacy symposium. The highly successful program on privacy and data security featured ABA immediate past-president James R. Silkenat and lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice and the ABA committee on law and national security. Coplin is an attorney in Demopolis, Alabama.

West was cited for her vision, leadership and financial support that enabled Cumberland to thank its donors with a unique weekend of Shakespearean play performances to conclude the school’s recent capital campaign.

A Birmingham attorney and Shakespeare scholar, West is a popular lecturer on topics that mesh the two fields.  She created and teaches an innovative course in Shakespeare and trial advocacy as an adjunct faculty member at Cumberland.   The Friend of the Law School award is given to a non-Cumberland graduate who has made a significant investment to Cumberland and its future.

 

Cumberland’s Alumni Reunion Weekend continues on Saturday, April 11, with a dean’s update and discussion led by Strickland, an open house for graduates, families and friends, lunch and activities, and individual class reunion gatherings in the evening.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.