Latanishia D. Watters
Latanishia Watters has developed a commercial litigation practice across a spectrum of specialized practice areas including tort and insurance defense, fraud and bad faith litigation, broker-dealer litigation and arbitration, bankruptcy litigation, business contract litigation, and other business-to-business disputes. She represents insureds, insurers, financial institutions, broker-dealers, bankruptcy trustees, creditors, and other business entities.
Ms. Watters is a graduate of the Leadership Birmingham Class of 2010. Locally, Ms. Watters has held a variety of professional leadership positions, including service as President of the Magic City Bar Association, Chair of the Birmingham Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Committee, and member of the BBA Women Lawyers Section Executive Board. On a national level, Ms. Watters served as the Alabama/Georgia District Representative to the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association where she was responsible for coordinating disaster legal services in partnership with FEMA; as the Division's Assistant Diversity Director; and named as a Minorities in the Profession Scholar, among her many national leadership positions. Most recently, she has been elected as Assembly Clerk of the ABA Young Lawyers Division for 2010-2011, named as Vice Chair and Newsletter Editor of the Staff Counsel Committee of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), and named to the TIPS Standing Committee on Diversity in the Profession.
Ms. Watters is active in the community and has served on several boards including the American Cancer Society and Girls, Inc. of Central Alabama. As President of the Girls, Inc. Junior Board, she spearheaded the non-profit's First Annual Cajun Cook-off Fundraiser, which raised over $50,000 for programs that serve over 8,000 youth annually.
In recognition of her professional achievements and community service, in 2011, Ms. Watters was selected by the Birmingham Business Journal as one of Birmingham's "Top 40 Under 40" business leaders, and in 2008, Ms. Watters was named as one of Birmingham's "Most Influential" in the second edition of Who's Who in Black Birmingham.
Ms. Watters graduated cum laude from Millsaps College in 1998. She received her J.D. from Cumberland School of Law of Samford University in 2001, also earning an M.B.A. from Samford in 2001. During law school, she served as an Associate Editor of the Cumberland Law Review and as an extern for Chief United States District Judge U.W. Clemon, Northern District of Alabama, and received special awards and recognition in legal research and writing and moot court advocacy.
Admitted to practice:
Alabama
Millsaps College (B.A., cum laude, 1998)
Samford University School of Business (M.B.A., 2001)
Cumberland School of Law of Samford University (J.D., 2001) (Associate Editor, Cumberland Law Review; Cordell Hull Teaching Fellow; National Moot Court Team)
"Bankruptcy for the Non-Bankruptcy Lawyer", The Young Lawyer, 2007.
"The ABCs of Judgment Enforcement," The Young Lawyer April 2008
"To Sue or Be Sued: The Two-Edged Sword of Business Litigation and Effective Strategies for In-House Counsel", National Bar Association Commercial Law Section, Annual Corporate Counsel Conference, 2009
"Preserving Your Client's Rights When Someone Files for Bankruptcy," American Bar Association 2009 Midyear Meeting
"Bankruptcy for Non-Bankruptcy Lawyers," American Bar Association, 2009 Annual Meeting
"Payroll Basics in Alabama" Lorman Education Services, 2005
