About Vic
Vic practices in the firm’s Litigation section and is head of the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice group. Vic’s practice focuses on commercial and securities litigation, arbitration, and industry disputes. He serves as an arbitrator for FINRA, formally the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Vic is experienced in providing numerous training sessions and programs to broker-dealers (management, financial advisers and staff) on red flags, best practices, and claims avoidance. Utilizing experience from years of litigating and arbitrating claims and experience as a FINRA arbitrator , Vic helps provide tailored training for industry personnel. Vic’s experience in litigating in the financial services industry also includes defense of class actions, derivative claims, defending trust institutions and trust officers in breach of trust actions, arbitrating customer claims, intra-industry disputes and all types of shareholder disputes, arbitrations and suits. He also has extensive experience with non-compete agreements and injunctive relief actions. Vic also serves as a mediator for civil cases.
Vic is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Alabama State Bar and the Birmingham Bar Association. Vic is listed as one of The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution. He has served on the Citizenship Education Committee, the Bench and Bar Committee, the Grievance Committee, the Ethics Committee and the Character and Fitness Committee for the Alabama State Bar. Vic is author of “Apprenticeship Exception to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act: Did Congress Intend It?” (14 Cumberland Law Review, 1985) and “Internet Use for the Alabama Attorney”, and has given several public presentations on internet use and research for attorneys and legal staff. Vic is also a regular speaker to securities firms on numerous current topics.
Vic received his B.S. in 1981 from the University of Alabama and his J.D., summa cum laude, in 1985 from Cumberland School of Law, where he was associate editor of the Cumberland Law Review. He was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1985. He is also admitted in the United States District Court for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Vic has also practiced in numerous state and federal courts throughout the United States.
What is your favorite thing about the law?
Learning about businesses, products and people. Every matter is an education of sorts. I love the fact that my profession allows me to interact in other industries and continue to learn. Some of my best friends today started as clients years ago.
What community projects are you involved in?
I serve on the Board of Directors and as General Counsel for the Interfaith House for the Homeless. This is a great and unique organization serving homeless families.
What was your first job?
Usher at the ABC Theatre remains to this day one of the most fun jobs I ever had. I was able to see lots of classic (and not so classic) movies and worked with great people.
What are your hobbies?
Scuba diving, hiking and playing cards. Love them all. Being underwater is a universe unto itself. It’s a sense of solitude, adventure and beauty all in one. It’s exhilarating and something I love to share with my boys.
What advice would you give to a young student in law school?
Make and maintain relationships with your classmates. They will be mutually beneficial and enjoyable over the years.
How do you define a “good day?”
I look at our time on earth as limited and precious. I swap every day of my life for whatever it is I do that day…and want, at the end of the day, to think…that was a good swap.
How do you spend your weekend?
I like to spend as much of it as possible outside. In the fall, nothing beats watching a great college football game.