Mobile Bar Association Remembrance Ceremony Nov. 6 to Honor 15 Attorneys Who Died This Year
The Mobile Bar Association will remember 15 Mobile attorneys who died in the past year during a ceremony at 11 a.m. Nov. 6 at Mobile Government Plaza, with state, federal and municipal judges sitting en banc.
MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile Bar Association will hold a remembrance ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, in the Mobile County Ceremonial Courtroom at Mobile Government Plaza, honoring 15 Mobile attorneys who died during the past year.
Judges from three court systems that sit in Mobile, the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Alabama, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama and the City of Mobile Municipal Court, will take part, sitting together en banc for the Mobile Bar Association remembrance ceremony.
Attorneys to be remembered
The association will remember the following members of the Mobile legal community:
- John Gibson Baylor, Jr.
- Robert “Cowboy Bob” Fulton Clark
- John Wilbanks Coleman
- Blane Horton Crutchfield
- Edwin Jerome “Jerry” Curran
- John Clifford Foster, III
- Robert “Bobby” Eugene Gibney, Sr.
- Daniel “Dan” Lee McCleave
- Michael “Mike” Stephen McNair, Sr.
- Dothan “Rocky” Elroy Morgan, Jr.
- Paul Durant Myrick
- Herman Delmas Padgett
- Nicki Elizabeth Patterson
- Brooke Ellen Sanchez
- Samuel “Sam” Lee Stockman, Sr.
When and where
- Date: Friday, Nov. 6, 2026
- Time: 11 a.m.
- Location: Mobile County Ceremonial Courtroom, Mobile Government Plaza, 205 Government St., downtown Mobile
- Host: Mobile Bar Association
- Participating courts: 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Alabama; U.S. District Court, Southern District of Alabama; City of Mobile Municipal Court
What it means for judges to sit en banc
The Latin-derived phrase en banc, sometimes written in banc, means “on the bench” and describes a court sitting with all, or a large group, of its judges together rather than a single judge presiding. In appellate courts, en banc sessions are usually reserved for especially significant cases. Outside of that setting, judges sometimes sit en banc for ceremonial occasions, such as investitures, portrait presentations and memorial services, as a formal way of marking the moment on behalf of the entire bench.
Having judges from state, federal and municipal courts sit together is a notable gesture. Those courts handle different kinds of cases and operate under separate systems, but the lawyers being honored may have practiced before any or all of them over the course of their careers.
The courts taking part
The 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Alabama is the state circuit court for Mobile County. Alabama’s circuit courts are the state’s trial courts of general jurisdiction. They hear felony criminal cases, civil lawsuits above the limits of district court, domestic relations matters such as divorce and child custody, and appeals from lower courts.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama is the federal trial court for a 13-county area of southwest Alabama that includes Mobile and Baldwin counties. Its judges hear federal criminal prosecutions and civil cases involving federal law, constitutional questions and disputes between parties from different states. The court is based in Mobile, with a division in Selma.
The City of Mobile Municipal Court handles violations of city ordinances, traffic cases and certain misdemeanors that occur inside the city limits. The court is based at Government Plaza, 205 Government St.
About Mobile Government Plaza
Mobile Government Plaza, at 205 Government St., opened in 1994 and is owned by the Mobile County Commission. The building has two connected towers, a 12-story administration tower and a nine-story judicial tower, joined by a glass-enclosed atrium of about 50,000 square feet. Its twin spires reach about 325 feet. The complex houses Mobile County and City of Mobile government offices along with courtrooms, including the ceremonial courtroom used for formal court and bar events.
About the Mobile Bar Association
The Mobile Bar Association traces its history to April 1869, when it was founded with 32 members, according to the association. Its first president was Peter Hamilton, and its early goals included building a law library in Mobile, encouraging professional learning and creating social opportunities for lawyers. The association celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1969 and its 150th in 2019, and it now has more than 1,000 members.
The association’s history includes several milestones for the local legal community. Rosa Gerhardt became its first female president in 1948. In 1956, Vernon Z. Crawford founded the city’s first African American law firm on Davis Avenue, and the Bay Area Black Lawyers Association, established in 1980, was later renamed the Vernon Z. Crawford Bay Area Bar Association in his honor. The Mobile Bar Association moved its headquarters to the LeVert Building at 153 Government St. in 1976.
Over the decades the association has started or supported several programs that serve the public, including a pro bono program founded in 1985 to provide free legal representation to low-income clients, the Mobile Bar Foundation, created in 1994, and a volunteer lawyers program incorporated in 2003 and renamed the South Alabama Volunteer Lawyers Program in 2012.
A tradition of remembrance
Memorial ceremonies are a longstanding custom among bar associations across the country. They give colleagues, judges, families and friends a chance to gather in a courtroom, the setting where many of those being remembered spent their working lives, and formally recognize their service to clients and to the profession.
For the families of the attorneys being honored, the ceremony offers a public acknowledgment from the legal community. For the bar, it is a moment to reflect on the people who shaped the practice of law in Mobile, whether in courtrooms, law offices, public service or the classroom.
What to know
- The Mobile Bar Association remembrance ceremony begins at 11 a.m. on Nov. 6 in the Mobile County Ceremonial Courtroom at Mobile Government Plaza.
- Fifteen Mobile attorneys who died in the past year will be remembered.
- Judges from the 13th Judicial Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama and Mobile Municipal Court will sit en banc.
- Questions about the ceremony can be directed to the Mobile Bar Association.
