Published on January 24, 2017 by Polly Manuel  
Phillip McCallum

The Alabama State Bar has named Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law alumnus and Birmingham attorney Phillip McCallum as its new executive director. 

McCallum, a founding shareholder of the law firm McCallum, Methvin & Terrell P.C., will replace longtime executive director and Montgomery attorney Keith Normal upon his retirement in June.

McCallum received his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After graduating from Cumberland School of Law and being admitted to practice law in the state of Alabama in 1988, he worked as a prosecutor in the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office before becoming a civil litigator. 

“I am deeply humbled to be selected to serve as executive director of the Alabama State Bar,” said McCallum. “It is a privilege to have practiced as an Alabama lawyer for almost 30 years. I now embrace the opportunity to serve our bar in helping lawyers maintain the highest of ethical standards as they deliver critical services to the people and businesses of Alabama.”

McCallum previously served as president of the Alabama State Bar (2012–13).  He has also served as president of the Birmingham Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, a member of the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Commission for Professionalism, and a member of the Alabama State Bar’s Board of Bar commissioners representing the 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama.

He also is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association, the West Virginia Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is a member of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents.

A longtime resident of Vestavia Hills, McCallum is active in a number of community and statewide service organizations. He and his wife, Kelley, also an attorney, have three children.

The Alabama State Bar is the official statewide organization of lawyers in Alabama and currently has more than 17,800 members.

Polly Manuel is marketing and communication coordinator for Cumberland School of Law.

 
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.