News & Insights

Lightfoot Partner Terry McCarthy Co-Authors Latest Edition of McElroy’s Alabama Evidence

January 13, 2021

Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC partner Terry McCarthy co-authored the newly published Seventh Edition of McElroy’s Alabama Evidence.

The multi-volume treatise is the leading authority on Alabama evidence law and has been cited in thousands of judicial opinions, motions, briefs and articles since the first edition was published in 1948. McCarthy helped write the Seventh Edition alongside two of his longtime mentors, Dean Emeritus Charles W. Gamble from the University of Alabama School of Law, and Professor Emeritus Robert J. Goodwin of Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law. 

“I can’t think of any legal treatise in the history of the Alabama legal system that has been cited and relied upon more than McElroy’s, and being part of the Seventh Edition is the greatest honor of my professional career,” said McCarthy.  “Dean Gamble and Professor Goodwin are true giants of the legal community and it is an honor to have them as mentors, colleagues, co-authors and friends.”

Gamble authored the Alabama Rules of Evidence, and has been the leading authority on Alabama evidence law for decades. McCarthy was a student in Gamble’s evidence class as well as his research assistant in law school.  

“When it comes to teaching evidence law, Dean Gamble is in a class by himself,” said McCarthy. “I was very fortunate to have learned evidence from the best.”

This is not the first time McCarthy has teamed up with Gamble and Goodwin. The three also co-authored the Third Edition of Gamble’s Alabama Rules of Evidence (published in 2014), the other leading treatise on Alabama evidence law.  Earlier this year, Gamble, Goodwin and McCarthy published an article in The Alabama Lawyer about 2020 amendments to the Alabama Rules of Evidence.

In addition to his diverse trial and appellate practice at Lightfoot, McCarthy is an adjunct professor of evidence law at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law. He also serves on the Alabama Supreme Court Advisory Committee to the Alabama Rules of Evidence.  He is frequently called upon to consult on and argue evidence issues at trial and to preserve the appellate record on appeal.

McCarthy received the Cumberland School of Law “Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award” in 2019, and in 2016, he received the Judge Walter P. Gewin Award for his significant contributions in the development and presentation of CLE programs. He is also recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© (BL Rankings, LLC) for Appellate Practice, Insurance Litigation and Commercial Litigation.