(LAWFUEL) – Adams and Reese LLP Special Counsel Richard. P. Carmody was presented with the 2009 L. Burton Barnes, III Public Service Award at the Birmingham Bar Association’s Annual Meeting, held Friday, December 12 at the Jefferson County Courthouse.
The award is given annually to a member of the Bar who has given freely of his time and energy in public service for the benefit and betterment of the general public.
“This recognition from the Bar results from my inability to say ‘No,” said Carmody upon receiving this honor. “In today’s troubled times, lawyers do not have the luxury to say ‘No’ but rather the duty to say ‘Yes’ to those whom we can help.”
Carmody has a deeply rooted history in public and community service. Since moving to Birmingham more than 30 years ago, he has been actively involved and diverse set of charitable and service organizations. He is a board member and current chair of the St. Vincent’s Hospital Foundation and a board member of Alabama Appleseed and Unbound Alabama (formerly NCCJ of Alabama). He also coordinates the firm’s involvement in the Birmingham HELP (Homeless Experience Legal Protection) Project. For several years, Carmody oversaw the volunteer and philanthropic efforts of the firm’s Birmingham office as the Liaison Partner for HUGS, the firm’s corporate philanthropy program. Additionally, he has twice served as Chair of Lawyers Division of the United Way Campaign, and as a former board member and President of Camp Fire USA Central Alabama Council and a former chair of Unbound Alabama. He is also a 1998 graduate of Leadership Birmingham.
In his law practice, Carmody is one of the firm’s principal bankruptcy attorneys. He represents clients with a broad spectrum of interests in difficult financial situations, including secured lenders in documenting loans and working out troubled loans, unsecured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings, debtors in bankruptcy reorganizations, trustees in special bankruptcy litigation matters and purchasers of assets in bankruptcy proceedings. He has appeared in Bankruptcy Courts in the three Federal Districts in Alabama, as well as Tennessee, Texas, Delaware, Arkansas and New York. Carmody is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights Law) and is listed in Chambers USA Directory as a Leader in the field of Banking and Finance.
“This is well-deserved recognition for Richard’s ongoing service to the Birmingham legal community, and to the community at-large,” says Adams and Reese Managing Partner Charles P. Adams, Jr. “Whether he is serving as chairman of a board or committee, or is simply one of many volunteers, Richard dedicates himself 110 percent to the task at hand. Not only does he readily share his time, talent and resources to help all those in need, he encourages and inspires others.”
Established in 1994 by the Birmingham Bar Association, this award honors the memory of L. Burton Barnes, III, a distinguished member of the Birmingham Bar and a true champion of public service.
Adams and Reese LLP is a multidisciplinary, regional law firm with offices in Baton Rouge, LA; Birmingham, AL; Houston, TX; Jackson, MS; Memphis, TN; Mobile, AL; Nashville, TN; New Orleans, LA and Washington, D.C. American Lawyer Magazine recently named Adams and Reese to its distinguished list of the nation’s top 200 firms – “The Am Law 200.” The National Law Journal also lists the firm on the “NLJ 250” of the nation’s largest law firms.
