R. Ashby Pate, Partner
Birmingham
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205-581-0775 phone
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205-581-0799 fax
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apate@lightfootlaw.com
Biography
Ashby may have one of the most interesting resumes of any Alabama lawyer.
A former justice on the Supreme Court of the island nation of Palau, Ashby presided over hundreds of cases as a trial and appellate judge there — and he helped create that country’s first-ever jury trial system. He also served as a judicial clerk for U.S. District Court Judge U.W. Clemon, one of Alabama’s civil rights pioneers. He was the editor-in-chief of the Law Review for Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, and he later earned an LL.M. from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, where he graduated first in his class and was awarded the Sir Roy Goode Prize in international law. He is also one of only 50 distinguished lawyers and judges in Alabama currently serving on the American Law Institute, and was inducted as a Fellow into the Alabama Law Foundation in 2020, an honor limited to only 1% of all members of the Alabama Bar. Ashby draws on all of this unique experience in his general commercial defense practice, which focuses on appellate work, catastrophic injury, commercial plaintiffs' litigation and complex government litigation and investigations.
A true advocate at heart, Ashby is frequently involved in some of the firm’s most important — and sometimes controversial — matters. For example, he was appointed co-prosecutor in the widely publicized judicial ethics trial of Alabama’s “Ten Commandments” judge, Chief Justice Roy Moore. Ashby delivered closing arguments in the trial, arguing that an Administrative Order issued by the Chief Justice constituted defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. In a unanimous verdict, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended the chief justice from office for the remainder of his elected term, without pay.
Ashby is also a sought-after public speaker. A recent speech of his, “Be the Light,” stresses the importance of human connection in the practice of law and has resulted in Ashby being invited to speak to organizations throughout the country. He has delivered a keynote address, alongside U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, given presentations to the American College of Trial Lawyers’ Annual Meeting in Hawaii and the Defense Research Institute’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco. He has also spoken to numerous other legal and judicial organizations in Alabama, Wyoming, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Tennessee and many more.
Prior to law school, he toured across the Southeastern United States in two different bands, releasing two albums of original music. Ashby is also the author of a children’s book about Palau, titled Sweet Dreams Palau, published by the Etpison Museum.
Representative Matters
- Lead plaintiffs’ counsel in high profile energy performance contract dispute between the firm’s longstanding client, the City of Birmingham, and a Fortune 500 company and nationwide vendor of an energy performance contract promising over 102 million in savings over 18 years to Birmingham. After the close of discovery, the City of Birmingham obtained a 21.3-million-dollar settlement, consisting of cash and free services.
- Lead counsel for the judicial inquiry commission in a recent ethics prosecution against a circuit court judge charged with witness tampering, ex parte communications, and a pattern of abuse of staff and attorneys. At the conclusion of the trial, the court of the judiciary removed the judge from her elected position.
- Co-lead counsel in a four-day arbitration on behalf of a major pest extermination company in a case involving claims of fraud, bad faith, and substantial property damage.
- Appellate counsel in a multi-million-dollar case involving the tragic death of a child in a house fire due to the alleged failure of a space heater.
- Co-prosecutor in the judicial ethics trial of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. R. Ashby Pate delivered the closing arguments. A unanimous verdict from the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended Moore from office for the remainder of his elected term, without pay.
- First-chair representing a former prisoner at a maximum security prison in Alabama in a federal civil rights jury trial. After a four-day jury trial, the jury awarded compensatory and punitive damages to Lightfoot's client, finding the prison guard liable for assault and battery.
- Deputy attorney general to defend former Alabama superintendent of education in a lawsuit filed by a former state superintendent candidate and current Jefferson County Schools superintendent. Obtained 12(b)(6) dismissal on behalf of Lightfoot's client on sovereign immunity grounds.
- First-chair in an international property dispute trial. After a five-day bench trial, the court found in favor of our client on all six causes of action.
- Second-chair in a worker’s compensation personal injury trial in Fort Payne, Alabama. After a two-day jury trial, the jury awarded compensatory damages to our client.
- Second-chair in a 24 million-euro international software arbitration for a Fortune 100 client at the Vienna International Arbitration Centre.
- Drafting a successful brief opposing class certification for a Fortune 100 client in consolidated medical device class action in Louisiana.
- Obtaining a dismissal in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against a worldwide German furniture distributor for a U.S. furniture manufacturer.
Videos
Closing Argument in Judicial Ethics Trial of Chief Justice Roy Moore
Be The Light: the Importance of Human Connection in the Practice of Law
Events
News
Top 10 Q&A for Product Liability Class Actions
Presentations and Publications
Presenter, “The Art of the Story: How good storytelling makes great legal advocacy,” South Carolina Bar Annual Meeting (2020)
Presenter, “Be the Light,” American College of Trial Lawyers (2016)
Quoted, “The Clear Opener: How to avoid mucking up the most crucial part of discourse” by Bryan A. Garner, The American Bar Association Journal (Aug. 15, 2014)
Presenter, “The Big Wet Now: Observations for Young Internationalists,” The Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy (2013)
Author, “Blood Libel: The Conscription of the Law of Defamation into a Legal Jihad Against the West - and How to Stop It,” First Amendment Law Review (Spring 2010)
Editor, Republic of Palau Reports, Volume XVI, 16 ROP 1 (2010)
“The Future of Harmonization: Soft Law Instruments and the Principled Advance of Lawmaking” (2009)” (2009)
Constitutional Law—Public Use Clause—Use of Eminent Domain to Promote Economic Development Held Constitutional (2007)
Editor-in-Chief, The Cumberland Law Review, Volumes I, II, & III, 37 CUMB. L. REV. 1 (2006-07)
Jury Trial Rules for the Courts of the Republic of Palau, Promulgated by the Palau Supreme Court
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Legal Assistant
Bio 
Ashby may have one of the most interesting resumes of any Alabama lawyer.
A former justice on the Supreme Court of the island nation of Palau, Ashby presided over hundreds of cases as a trial and appellate judge there — and he helped create that country’s first-ever jury trial system. He also served as a judicial clerk for U.S. District Court Judge U.W. Clemon, one of Alabama’s civil rights pioneers. He was the editor-in-chief of the Law Review for Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, and he later earned an LL.M. from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, where he graduated first in his class and was awarded the Sir Roy Goode Prize in international law. He is also one of only 50 distinguished lawyers and judges in Alabama currently serving on the American Law Institute, and was inducted as a Fellow into the Alabama Law Foundation in 2020, an honor limited to only 1% of all members of the Alabama Bar. Ashby draws on all of this unique experience in his general commercial defense practice, which focuses on appellate work, catastrophic injury, commercial plaintiffs' litigation and complex government litigation and investigations.
A true advocate at heart, Ashby is frequently involved in some of the firm’s most important — and sometimes controversial — matters. For example, he was appointed co-prosecutor in the widely publicized judicial ethics trial of Alabama’s “Ten Commandments” judge, Chief Justice Roy Moore. Ashby delivered closing arguments in the trial, arguing that an Administrative Order issued by the Chief Justice constituted defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. In a unanimous verdict, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended the chief justice from office for the remainder of his elected term, without pay.
Ashby is also a sought-after public speaker. A recent speech of his, “Be the Light,” stresses the importance of human connection in the practice of law and has resulted in Ashby being invited to speak to organizations throughout the country. He has delivered a keynote address, alongside U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, given presentations to the American College of Trial Lawyers’ Annual Meeting in Hawaii and the Defense Research Institute’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco. He has also spoken to numerous other legal and judicial organizations in Alabama, Wyoming, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Tennessee and many more.
Prior to law school, he toured across the Southeastern United States in two different bands, releasing two albums of original music. Ashby is also the author of a children’s book about Palau, titled Sweet Dreams Palau, published by the Etpison Museum.
Experience
Representative Matters
Lead plaintiffs’ counsel in high profile energy performance contract dispute between the firm’s longstanding client, the City of Birmingham, and a Fortune 500 company and nationwide vendor of an energy performance contract promising over 102 million in savings over 18 years to Birmingham. After the close of discovery, the City of Birmingham obtained a 21.3-million-dollar settlement, consisting of cash and free services.
Lead counsel for the judicial inquiry commission in a recent ethics prosecution against a circuit court judge charged with witness tampering, ex parte communications, and a pattern of abuse of staff and attorneys. At the conclusion of the trial, the court of the judiciary removed the judge from her elected position.
Co-lead counsel in a four-day arbitration on behalf of a major pest extermination company in a case involving claims of fraud, bad faith, and substantial property damage.
Appellate counsel in a multi-million-dollar case involving the tragic death of a child in a house fire due to the alleged failure of a space heater.
Co-prosecutor in the judicial ethics trial of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. R. Ashby Pate delivered the closing arguments. A unanimous verdict from the Alabama Court of the Judiciary suspended Moore from office for the remainder of his elected term, without pay.
First-chair representing a former prisoner at a maximum security prison in Alabama in a federal civil rights jury trial. After a four-day jury trial, the jury awarded compensatory and punitive damages to Lightfoot's client, finding the prison guard liable for assault and battery.
Deputy attorney general to defend former Alabama superintendent of education in a lawsuit filed by a former state superintendent candidate and current Jefferson County Schools superintendent. Obtained 12(b)(6) dismissal on behalf of Lightfoot's client on sovereign immunity grounds.
First-chair in an international property dispute trial. After a five-day bench trial, the court found in favor of our client on all six causes of action.
Second-chair in a worker’s compensation personal injury trial in Fort Payne, Alabama. After a two-day jury trial, the jury awarded compensatory damages to our client.
Second-chair in a 24 million-euro international software arbitration for a Fortune 100 client at the Vienna International Arbitration Centre.
Drafting a successful brief opposing class certification for a Fortune 100 client in consolidated medical device class action in Louisiana.
Obtaining a dismissal in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama against a worldwide German furniture distributor for a U.S. furniture manufacturer.
Videos
Closing Argument in Judicial Ethics Trial of Chief Justice Roy Moore
Be The Light: the Importance of Human Connection in the Practice of Law
News & Insights
Events
News
Top 10 Q&A for Product Liability Class Actions
Presentations and Publications
Presenter, “The Art of the Story: How good storytelling makes great legal advocacy,” South Carolina Bar Annual Meeting (2020)
Presenter, “Be the Light,” American College of Trial Lawyers (2016)
Quoted, “The Clear Opener: How to avoid mucking up the most crucial part of discourse” by Bryan A. Garner, The American Bar Association Journal (Aug. 15, 2014)
Presenter, “The Big Wet Now: Observations for Young Internationalists,” The Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy (2013)
Author, “Blood Libel: The Conscription of the Law of Defamation into a Legal Jihad Against the West - and How to Stop It,” First Amendment Law Review (Spring 2010)
Editor, Republic of Palau Reports, Volume XVI, 16 ROP 1 (2010)
“The Future of Harmonization: Soft Law Instruments and the Principled Advance of Lawmaking” (2009)” (2009)
Constitutional Law—Public Use Clause—Use of Eminent Domain to Promote Economic Development Held Constitutional (2007)
Editor-in-Chief, The Cumberland Law Review, Volumes I, II, & III, 37 CUMB. L. REV. 1 (2006-07)
Jury Trial Rules for the Courts of the Republic of Palau, Promulgated by the Palau Supreme Court
Education
Norwich Law School
(LL.M., first in class; highest distinction)
Samford University, Cumberland School of Law
(J.D., magna cum laude)
University of Colorado, Boulder
(B.A., summa cum laude with highest distinction)
Court Admissions
United States Supreme Court
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama
Judicial Clerkships
Judge U. W. Clemon, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
Chief Justice Arthur Ngiraklsong, Supreme Court of Palau
Professional Organizations
Alabama Law Foundation, Fellow (2021)
American Cancer Society, Board Member
American Law Institute, member (2014-present)
Birmingham Airport Authority, Board of Directors (2020), Economic Development and Capital Projects Committee, Chair (2020), PR and Business Development Committee, member (2020), Board Secretary (2022)
International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), member (2017-present)
Leadership Birmingham, Fellow (2023)
Awards
Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum (2018)
Benchmark Litigation, “Future Star” (2021)
Benchmark Litigation, “Litigation Star” (2022-24)
The Best Lawyers in America© by BL Rankings — Appellate, Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation (2021-24)
Birmingham Business Journal, “Top 40 Under 40” (2017)
Birmingham Magazine, “Top Birmingham Attorneys” (2018)
Birmingham Magazine, “Top International Law Attorney”(2013)
Chambers USA, “Up and Comer” for Litigation (Alabama)
Cumberland School of Law, "Alumnus of the Year" (2017)
Mid-South Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters — Civil Litigation (2023-24)
United Nations Judicial Summit in Hong Kong, delegate (2015)
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