Former ABA President Tommy Wells has died
Former ABA President Tommy Wells was a key part of the association's disaster reponse after Hurricane Katrina. (Photo courtesy of Maynard Nexsen)
Past ABA President H. Thomas “Tommy” Wells Jr. died on Wednesday, according to Maynard Nexsen, the firm where he was of counsel.
During the ABA Annual Meeting on Thursday, the Board of Governors passed a memorial resolution in honor of Wells. “Tommy was an amazing leader for this association, and I don’t think he ever had an enemy in the world,” said ABA President Mary Smith, speaking in favor of the resolution. Smith called him “charismatic” and “committed,” and noted that his death was a “horrible loss for all of us and the association.”
Wells served as president of the ABA from 2008 to 2009. During that time, Wells convened a summit and a series of hearings to promote diversity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and disability, culminating in a landmark report, “Diversity in the Legal Profession: Next Steps.” According to an ABA news release, he also established a Presidential Commission on Fair and Impartial State Courts, whose honorary chair was then-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
During this time, Wells sent a letter to The New York Times titled “Lawyers for the Poor,” which advocated for greater funding for public defenders. “Justice should not be determined by a person’s wealth or income level,” he wrote.
Wells held several other leadership roles with the ABA, including as chair of the House of Delegates from 2002 to 2004. He was chair of the Section of Litigation and co-chair of the Special Committee on Disaster Response after Hurricane Katrina.
Following his ABA presidential term, Wells was appointed as chair of the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. And in 2015, he chaired the ABA London Sessions Planning Committee, which helped coordinate the association’s visit to England to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.
Wells, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was a partner and founding member of Maynard, Cooper & Gale, which merged with Nexsen Pruet to form Maynard Nexsen in 2023. According to his firm bio, he was a longtime litigator and focused on complex mass tort, environmental and product liability cases.
“Tommy was a dear friend and a great mentor to many of our lawyers, including me,” Maynard Nexsen CEO and managing shareholder Jeff Grantham said in a statement provided to the ABA Journal. “He was an exceptional trial lawyer, and I had the privilege of watching him in action. No matter the difficulties of any case or circumstance, Tommy was up to the challenge. He was unflappable. His calm demeanor, good humor and positive nature were contagious and made those around him better.”
“He was a lawyer’s lawyer … respected by his partners, opposing counsel, clients and judges,” Grantham added. “He loved the bar. He loved everything about the profession and it showed. It showed in his passion.”
In an October 2008 article in the ABA Journal, Wells called on lawyers to play an active part in ensuring elections were free, fair, accessible and accurate.
“Today, I reflect on the blessing of living in a society where changes in government leadership are made by citizens at the polls; and when election disputes do arise, they are settled by lawyers and judges in courts of law—not by force or by mobs in the streets,” he wrote at the time.
Wells earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in 1972, and graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1975. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Suffolk University Law School in 2008.
Wells also served as an active member of the Alabama State Bar and Birmingham Bar Association, according to his alma mater. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Metropolitan Birmingham, a former director of the American Judicature Society and chaired the Legal Committee for the 1990 PGA Championship.
Before entering private practice, he worked for the Office of General Counsel for the Department of the Air Force.
Funeral and memorial plans are not yet available.
