Over 10 years ago I followed Mas Ayoob's advice and paid for a sit down with a local attorney to explain AL law to me in the context of self defense, CCW and other subjects, this was just after I had finished Ayoob's LFI I course, which I still recommend as a good baseline on the subject.   In that briefing, which lasted pretty close to 2 hours, I was with one of our more prominent criminal defense lawyers at the time (now deceased) I got my questions answered and we discussed scenarios, caveats, how to handle things if I ever did find myself in a shooting, how to interact with the police in variety of situations, etc. etc.  Problem was, it cost me about $300.00, but for several years afterwards I had both the peace of mind of thinking I had a pretty good understanding of the law, what to do, and more importantly I had that attorney's card and phone number in my wallet so I never wondered who I was going to call if the SHTF some day.

Since then things have changed, we passed the castle doctrine and several other things have happended with AL case law regarding CCW.  There are new AG opinions on some things, there is CCW reciprocity, etc. etc.

What I have been working on since last fall, is a different approach for people interested in doing the things I did back in the late '90s, but without spending the same sort of money and time it cost me then, because I know that is just simply out of reach and over the top these days to blow $300 or more on such an attorney consult for most people.

I was fortnunate to find a pair of first rate, top of the heap attorney's who practice criminal defense law, but both have many years of prosecution experience, and both of them happen to be very strong proponents of RKBA and both are serious shooters and gun toters themselves.  We teamed up and have worked the last six months to structure something that will only set you back about $35, only take about 2-3 hours of your time one evening, but will hopefully leave you with that same level of advice, insight, and knowledge I paid big bucks for many years ago, not to mention having a couple of lawyer cards in your wallet, should, heaven forbid, that horrible moment of needing a criminal defense lawyer to be with you after an act of justified use of lethal force has crossed your life.

We hope to run these 2-3 times a year, but I wanted to let the people in this forum know about our first run, set for Thursday evening, June 18th, at the Marriot Courtyard "meeting room" in Trussville.  Seating is limited to the first 30 people to register.  The general format will be about 1.5 hours of lecture and they plan to take questions for the duration of the class, up to about 1.5 additional hours (staying til 10:00 p.m. if needed) Details as follows:

Alabama Firearms Training Services, LLC is happy to announce this new class for our civilian students who wish to learn more about the legal issues related to owning, carrying, and using a firearm for self defense.

This class is taught by practicing local attorneys from the Birmingham area, with both criminal defense and prosecution experience.  It covers the basics of justifiable use of lethal force for self defense and the law in Alabama that governs carrying a concealed handgun.  Duration is 2  hours, plus ample time to answer all student questions.    

The first class will be Thursday June 18th starting at 7:00 p.m. at the Marriot Courtyard, Trussville.    The cost is $35 per student and includes a student workbook.  

To register for this class, contact [email protected] or (205)753-1834.  Future class dates and locations will be posted at www.alabama-fts.com

The Instructors
W. Barry Alvis is the principal of the Birmingham law firm of W. Barry Alvis & Associates, L.L.C.  His area of practice is largely concentrated in criminal defense.  His experience includes defending a number of jury trials and appeals in cases ranging from Driving Under the Influence to Capital Murder cases.  Mr. Alvis earned his Bachelor of Science and Business Administration with the concentration in Management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his Juris Doctorate from Birmingham School of Law.  During his education, he was a member of the Varsity Rifle Team at Jacksonville State University and has been an avid shooter and collector of firearms for twenty-five years.  Additionally, he has been involved in many different types of firearms litigation and was appointed as a Special Circuit Judge in Jefferson County where he presided over municipal and county appeals.  

Lara McCauley Alvis is an attorney with the Birmingham law firm of W. Barry Alvis & Associates, L.L.C.  Her area of practice is primarily criminal defense litigation.  Her experience includes seven years with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney and a clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb during her tenure on the Court of Criminal Appeals.  Her experience includes numerous jury trials and appeals ranging from Driving Under the Influence to Murder cases.  Mrs. Alvis earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Alabama, graduating magna cum laude. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Alabama.  She is a member of the Shelby County Bar Association where she served as President, a Blackburn Fellow from the University of Alabama, and the 2009 Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum.  Additionally, she is the Coach of the University of Alabama’s National Criminal Moot Court Team and attends National Competition each year in San Diego, California.  

I'd like to attend a class like this, but it's too far for me.

tag

Very interested

Do one in Mobile, I can help you seat at least five people for sure and I'll put the word out at local ranges to help fill up the hall.

Hope y'all do schedule one down in the southern part of the state. I'm in Mobile and know 6-8 people that would attend.

I will do one of these at some point,  just gotta get my schedule worked out...

yes, certificates will be mailed to participants for their participation, but I don't have the status to get anybody an official CEU, there will also be a workbook/notebook passed out at the beginning of class

Mobile, I will ask, it bascially would be up to the attorney's if they wanted to travel down there.  I am sure somebody could tap into a local criminal defense attorney or ADA type in other areas (e.g. MS) and organize a similar gig.  What I appreciate about these two attorney's is their backgrounds have the appropriate balance, their current careers are focused on criminal defense work, and they are as committed to RKBA and CCW as any of us.  They have put a whole lot of time into preparing this class, I figure their break even point compared to normal lawyer work is some where around the 8th or 9th full class....

the seats will fill up on a first come first serve registration basis, if the thing gets completely full (we are limited by the meeting room size) for this date I will post a note here....if the first one is successful I expect them to give me another date in the fall some time

IN

email sent to sign up

about a week left before this class, just got the material for the workbooks from the lawyers, we still have a dozen available seats if anybody else is interested...

video, not this time, we will run it again this fall, I will look into doing that for the next one, it would be a good idea

I would buy one of those filmed versions of the seminar!!

i'll be there- moving to b'ham soon.  looking forward to it.  the gentleman on the phone informed me that there are 14 spots (-1 for me) still available for the one on june 18.

thanks for setting this up!

the attorney's have indicated they want to run this thing 3-4 times before it gets filmed and sold, so probably a couple of years before we do that, their call not mine...

i enjoyed the discussion last night.  got lots of good info.

Thanks for all the work in putting this together!

thanks for attending, I think we achieved the mission in this first run and it will help the lawyers tune up their stuff for the next one, we will offer this again as part of the NRA Personal Protection Class on October 10th, same location, not sure what time during the day yet, but it is a standard 2 hr module in that NRA class and we will make it available for people who only want to attend that session and not the whole NRA Personal Protection class

then the next date will be in Q1' 2010 some time again as a stand alone class....

the attorney's are not doing this for the money, but because they care about this stuff and want to educate people, they are also gun people and active CCW'ers themselves, so going forward we will be able to keep the cost low at $35 to insure we cover the room rental and reproduction/printing costs for the materials

anybody who wants a slot for the October 10th class will need to pay in advance for that session since space will be more limited because of the students already there for NRA personal protection class, I will post the time of day as soon as we establish that, but I think a 2 hour block in the morning between 9 and 1 p.m. is most likely...

Darn, I just saw this.  Sign me up for the next one.; and my lawyer bro too, probably.

Hate I just read this.
I definantly want in on the next one.

Just saw this.  My wife and I, and probably my BIL and his wife, would be interested in the next one.

next one will be October 10th, again at the Marriot Courtyard Trussville, as of now the time is still TBA, most likely before noon, this is one of the two hour blocks in thefull  NRA Personal Protection class going off that day, but we can make room for additional students who just want to attend this session.....I will post something here as soon as we know the specific time, the full $35 class fee for the legal session will have to be paid in advance on this one because seating is much more limited (the NRA Personal Protection class students get first dibs on seats) and last time I was left in the red after about 6 people canceled in the last week or in the case of two students, simply never showed...

Just confirmed with the lawyers.

October 10th, 10:00 a.m. until noon, Marriot Courtyard Trussville, $35 deposit holds your seat

Hey Bill,
I just sent ya a msg but my computer acted weird and i am not sure it went through.  

The NRA Personal Protection Class on October 10th - is this the class you were telling me about back in July when my buddy Chris and I were shooting the AR class with you?  Is there still room in this class?  I am definitely interested in finding out more.  

Thanks!

Shawn

can't remember what I might have said, but the 8 hour NRA Personal Protection in the Home is the next class on the NRA track after NRA basic pistol, the 2 hour segment on the law and self defense is a part of that 8 hour class, the rest of the class focuses on basic defensive pistol skills, learning to shoot fast, understanding the relationships between distances and your sights (how much you need to see to make the shot), how to learn to shoot faster wtih acceptable accuracy, plus a bunch of other topics related to the handgun in personal protection, I think the NRA has done a good job with this material, it is more or less a condensed version of Mas Ayoob's LFI 1 that I attended years ago, they condensed the most importan 20% of his content into a single day class...

plenty of room in the class, we are opeing up the legal module, which is the same self defense and the law class we held earlier in the summer, so that anyone who wants can simply attend that 2 hour segment at 10:00 a.m, same attorney's as the last go round, first half of the NRA class including the legal section is indoors at the Marriot Courtyard Trussville, last half is at the range at Heritage club...

one last bump on this sesson, October 10th at 10:00 a.m. will be the last time we run the "Legal Issues for Self Defense and Concealed Carry"  in Birmingham this year, I have other attorney's in Huntsville, and Anniston/Gadsden who have signed on to offer a session in those places over the next year just to see if it will fly there...looking in Mobile and Montgomery, will probably have the class in those two venues also some time next year

anybody planning to attend October 10th in Trussville needs to have their registration & $35 fee in to me before the class, as it will likely fill up between this session and people registered for the NRA Personal Protection Class that run concurrently, seating ls limited in this classroom

3 seats left, we will run this session again in the Spring....

I just wanted to give a report from this past briefing that Mark hosted.  Absolutely one of the best $35 I ever spent.  If for anything else, the good lively debate.  Also, I now have a good pro-2A defense attorney on my speed dial.

I highly recommend going to the next one and I may go again as well. Great material, thanks Mark!

Dang, just saw this.  Keep this bumped around the time the next one is going to happen.  I would love to be at the next one.

glad you got something out of it, Barry and Lara are going to give me some dates for the spring right after Christmas...we hope to do this at least twice a year going forward, or for as long as they are willing to, I have another attorney in the Anniston/Gadsden area and one in the Huntsville area who are interested in conducting the same session next year in those cities, stay tuned...

My wife and I were unable to attend due to the Appleseed shoot at Brock's Gap this past weekend (she shooting, me watching the kids ).

We are definitely interested in the next class - please keep us posted.

I had this on the back burner and forgot about it. Hope to see you in '10.

If you're IMing people put me on your list. Otherwise I'll check back with this thread.

a long way off but wanted to share the date, Barry and Lara have agreed to teach this class again in Birmingham on Saturday April 17th, 2010