MONTGOMERY, ALA. (September 21, 2009)  - Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange has officially designated Saturday, Sept. 26, as Mesothelioma Awareness Day in Montgomery. The recognition goes hand-in-hand with a nationwide Mesothelioma Awareness Day campaign under the direction of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (Meso Foundation).

In his work as a product liability attorney for Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., J.P. Sawyer saw far too many instances of children injured or killed in vehicle accidents because they were not properly secured. Even if child safety seats were present, many times even the best-intentioned parents do not properly install them, rendering them ineffective, with tragic results. Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange presented Sawyer with a proclamation on Sept. 11, recognizing Sept. 12-18 as Child Passenger Safety Week.

Beasley Allen will present a Wii gaming system and Wii Fit game to Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009, at 10:30 a.m. Patients will be on hand to try out the new Wii, and administrators, staff and physicians will be available for interviews.

“Project Wii-hab” is a coordinated effort of more than 40 law firms throughout the country to donate a Wii gaming system to a rehabilitative program in their area.

MONTGOMERY, AL - Beasley Allen shareholder C. Gibson Vance has been selected to serve as President-Elect of the American Association for Justice. The election was announced at the organization's annual convention, held recently in San Francisco, Calif.

Beasley Allen managing shareholder Tom Methvin, current President of the Board of Directors for Brantwood Children's Home, was in Tuscaloosa today to accept a check presented to Brantwood by the Nick's Kids Fund. The Nick's Kids Fund is a charitable foundation established by University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry, to promote and support children, family, teacher and student causes.

Tom Methvin, President of the Alabama State Bar, sent the following letter to newspapers in Alabama, asking them to help people in critical need of mortgage foreclosure assistance find the services that will help them keep their home. The letter provides information about the Bar's Mortgage Foreclosure Assistance Program, which provides a toll-free hotline to connect homeowners with the legal services they need if they are facing foreclosure. Many of these services are provided pro bono by volunteer lawyers.

A Chilton County jury awarded the Sanderson family of Clanton, Ala., a verdict of $3.5 million for the death of James Sanderson, who was killed when the van he was driving was crushed between two logging trucks. Beasley Allen attorneys Benjamin E. Baker and J. Cole Portis represented the Sanderson family, including James Sanderson's widow, Annie M. Sanderson, and children, Derek, Josh and Amy Sanderson; against defendants Ken Gorum Trucking and Gary Fruge.

Thomas J. Methvin, managing shareholder of Beasley Allen Law Firm, became the 133rd president of the Alabama State Bar in an inauguration ceremony Saturday morning, July 18.

As president, Methvin serves as head of the 16,000-member organization. Key initiatives for his term in office include increasing funding for Access to Justice with the goal of ensuring the legal needs of people living in poverty are adequately met, increasing participation in the Bar's Volunteer Lawyers Program, and overseeing Alabama's participation in the first-ever celebration of National Pro Bono Week.

The public is invited to the 4th Annual Rib Cook-Off at Eastside Grille on August 6, with proceeds to benefit Brantwood Children's Home.