AAJ Leadership  

President:
C. Gibson Vance of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, PC in Montgomery, AL

Mr. Vance, a trial attorney from Montgomery, Alabama, is a specialist in the Consumer Fraud division of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, PC. He acts in behalf of individuals and small businesses against insurance companies and various other entities within the insurance industry.

Before coming to Beasley Allen, Mr. Vance was a partner at the Montgomery-based firm of Hawthorne, Hawthorne & Vance.

At AAJ, Mr. Vance serves on the Public Affairs Committee and formerly served a two-year term as a member of the Board of Directors for the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a national organization designed to promote a fair and impartial judicial system for all.

Mr. Vance has served as Vice President of the Montgomery County Bar Association and Treasurer of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association. He was the president of the Young Lawyer's section of the Montgomery County Bar Association and a member of the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Bar Association.

Mr. Vance attended the Jones School of Law at Faulkner University where he was elected president of the Student Bar Association and received the Advocacy Award as the outstanding graduate of his class in 1992. He also helped found the Jones School of Law Future Trial Lawyers Association. He received his undergraduate degree from Troy State University in 1987.

President-Elect:
Gary M. Paul of Waters, Kraus & Paul LLP in Los Angeles, CA

Gary M. Paul, a partner with the law firm of Waters, Kraus & Paul LLP in Los Angeles, California, has successfully litigated cases ranging from products liability to construction negligence over the past 30 years. He has handled more than 100 jury trials and currently focuses on the trial of mesothelioma asbestos cases. Waters, Kraus & Paul LLP is a national plaintiffs’ firm concentrating on complex product liability and personal injury/wrongful death cases, particularly toxic tort litigation and pharmaceutical product liability.

Mr. Paul graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 1974. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Arizona State University and a Master of Science degree in Engineering from UCLA.

Prior to beginning his law career in 1975, Mr. Paul was a missile and space engineer, working in electronic design and systems engineering for aerospace companies, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As an engineer, he was involved in the design of spacecraft that both orbited and landed on Mars.

Mr. Paul has dedicated time and energy to improve the field of law and was cited as the Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in 1981. In 1996 he received the Edward I. Pollock Award for his "dedication, efforts, and effectiveness" in consumer matters. He also has held such prestigious positions as the President of both the Los Angeles Consumer Attorneys and the California Consumer Attorneys and is an elected member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Vice President:
Mary Alice McLarty of The McLarty Firm in Dallas, TX

Mary Alice McLarty founded her own practice, The McLarty Firm in Dallas, Texas, and is also the principal "Of Counsel" to the Sommerman & Quesada firm. She practices personal injury and civil trial law, concentrating on catastrophic injury cases, including Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and brain injuries.
 
Ms. McLarty’s numerous leadership posts at AAJ include serving on the AAJ Board of Governors and the Executive Committee. She chaired the Women Trial Lawyers Caucus, the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (RSD) Litigation Group, the Sole Practitioner & Small Firm Section, the Election Committee, the Key Person Committee, Organization & Home Office Committee, and the State Affairs Committee. She is the winner of the Marie Lambert Award (2002), and a several time winner of both the Distinguished Service Award (2010, 2009, 2008) and the Wiedemann & Wysocki Award (2005, 2002, 1998, 1997, 1995).
 
Ms. McLarty is a past president of the Dallas Trial Lawyers Association. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. The Dallas Women Lawyers Association honored her with the prestigious Louise B. Raggio Award for her significant contribution toward the advancement of women in the legal profession. Ms. McLarty is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
 
Ms. McLarty graduated from West Texas State University in 1970 and earned her J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1983.

Secretary:
J. Burton LeBlanc IV of Baron & Budd, PC in Baton Rouge, LA

Upon graduation from Loyola University School of Law (New Orleans) in 1990, Burton LeBlanc had a chance encounter with a man suffering from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos, that ignited what would become the driving passion behind his career: to help people who had been harmed by exposure to dangerous workplace and environmental contaminants. Ultimately, Mr. LeBlanc's namesake law firm (LeBlanc & Waddell) was designated by both the Louisiana AFL-CIO and the Louisiana NAACP as occupational disease counsel.

In addition to litigating cases, beginning in 1996, Mr. LeBlanc became an outspoken advocate for consumers’ rights before the Louisiana legislature and the United States Congress. In these capacities, he found that, while it was important and gratifying to help craft legislation to protect consumers against corporate misconduct, litigation played a critical role in enforcing these laws and regulations.

Mr. LeBlanc has since served as president of the Louisiana Association for Justice (Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association) and has been appointed to numerous committees by federal courts and the Louisiana Supreme Court. He has testified before the Louisiana legislature, appeared on radio and television shows, and spoken at many legal seminars about consumers’ rights and misguided tort reform efforts.

Mr. LeBlanc is active in the American Association for Justice and has served as its Parliamentarian and on the Board of Governors, National Finance Committee, PAC Committee and the Leaders Forum. Recently, Mr. LeBlanc received the Wiedemann Wysocki National Finance Council Award.  He also served as Vice-President of the Council of Presidents for State Trial Lawyer Associations and more locally, as the immediate past president of Cancer Services of Greater Baton Rouge.

In 2004, LeBlanc & Waddell joined forces with Dallas-based Baron & Budd, PC, one of the country’s top plaintiffs’ firms, and with the consolidation of the two firms in 2008, Mr. LeBlanc became a shareholder at Baron & Budd.

On a personal level, Mr. LeBlanc resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is married with four daughters and serves on various leadership committees at both his church and his children’s schools.

Treasurer:
Rhonda Hill Wilson of Law Offices of Rhonda Hill Wilson, P.C. in Philadelphia, PA

The first woman in her family to earn an advanced degree, Rhonda Hill Wilson has been practicing law for nearly three decades. She is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is a member of numerous federal bars, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Ms. Hill Wilson launched her own firm in 1994, after leaving an insurance defense practice. At that time, she decided to fight for the rights of injured individuals and their loved ones. She now concentrates her practice in nursing home negligence, while also handling medical malpractice, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, motor vehicle accident and premises liability matters. Ms. Hill Wilson's years of experience representing insurance companies provide her clients with the distinct advantage of having an attorney who knows how the defense approaches cases.

In addition to years of experience and a thorough knowledge of the law, Ms. Hill Wilson brings a high level of integrity and compassion to her practice. She cares about her clients and their families. She strives to achieve excellent legal results combined with a strong focus on client needs. Ms. Hill Wilson's clients know that they have an accessible, honest and caring lawyer on their side.

An accomplished and award-winning leader, Ms. Hill Wilson has presented, lectured and taught in areas including nursing home litigation, deposition strategies, ethics, damages, direct and cross-examination and the essentials of civil litigation. She has been named one of the Top Black Lawyers in the Tri- State Area by The Network Journal, she has received the Presidential Award from the National Bar Association, she's been made a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and she has been listed in Who's Who in American Law, just to name a few.

Ms. Hill Wilson is past president of the National Bar Association's Women's Law Division-Philadelphia and a past member of the American Association for Justice's National College of Advocacy Board of Trustees and its Executive Committee. She also serves on the Executive Committee for the American Association for Justice. Locally, Ms. Hill Wilson is on the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee for the Pennsylvania Association for Justice. She is also on the Board of Governors for the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, and acts as the organization's membership coordinator.

Locally, Ms. Hill Wilson is on the Board of Governors, the Executive Committee and is the co-chair for the Diversity Committee for the Pennsylvania Association for Justice. She is also on the Board of Governors for the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, and acts as the organization’s Parliamentarian.

Parliamentarian:
Larry A. Tawwater of The Tawwater Law Firm in Oklahoma City, OK

Larry Tawwater represents consumers in many types of litigation involving defective products, explosions, nursing home abuse, medical negligence, motor vehicle collisions, wrongful conduct by insurance companies, as well as class action suits and mass tort cases. The Tawwater Law Firm is based in Oklahoma City.
 
In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Tawwater has been involved in lobbying on behalf of the Oklahoma Association for Justice for passage of legislation protecting consumer rights and was appointed by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to help revise the Court’s own rules and draft jury instructions for use in civil trials in Oklahoma. He has also lectured extensively, presenting more than 30 papers on trial practice to various lawyer groups, and speaking frequently at law schools.
 
Mr. Tawwater is active in the American Association for Justice and has served on the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors. He chairs the Budget Committee and is a past chair of the Subcommittee on AAJ’s Defined Benefit Pension Plan. He is a winner of the Wiedemann & Wysocki Citation of Excellence (2010, 2003, 2002, 1996), the Certificate of Recognition (2007), and the Distinguished Service Award (2009, 2008). He is also a past president of the Oklahoma Association for Justice.
 
Mr. Tawwater earned his B.A. from the University of Oklahoma (1969) and his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law (1972).