TIPS to Honor James M. Proctor II with Andrew C. Hecker Memorial Award

James M. Proctor

The American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section is honoring lawyer James M. Proctor II of Birmingham, Ala., with its Andrew C. Hecker Memorial Award. The award, named in honor of the late Andrew C. Hecker of Philadelphia, is presented annually to lawyers who consistently demonstrate leadership, outreach, enthusiasm, professionalism, and pride in TIPS and its accomplishments.

“There is no one more deserving of the section’s 2012 Andrew C. Hecker Memorial Award than Jim Proctor,” said Section Chair Randy Aliment of Seattle. “A longtime leader within TIPS, Jim restored the strength and financial discipline of the section’s finances during his terms as financial officer. Equally important, he revived struggling committees through his service as committee chair, all the while welcoming new members into the section and remaining a loyal friend and colleague to many other members. Jim’s enthusiasm, positive disposition and pride in TIPS are infectious, and we are honored to present him with this award.”

Proctor will receive the award at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago during the James K. Carroll Leadership and Awards Dinner at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 5, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Proctor is senior vice president and general counsel of McWane Inc., where he joined the company as general counsel in 1995. Before coming to McWane, he was a shareholder at the firm Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C., in Birmingham, where he specialized in commercial litigation.

He is a member of the ABA and served as financial officer and council member of the Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice Section. He now serves as a member of the section’s Finance Committee, General Committee Board, Strategic Planning Committee and Membership Committee, and is the chair of the Corporate Counsel Committee. Proctor is also a member of the Alabama State Bar Association; Association of Corporate Counsel; Birmingham Inns of Court; Leadership Birmingham; Project Corporate Leadership; and the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham.

Proctor was named to Law & Politics’ list of Alabama Super Lawyers and Birmingham Business Journal’s Who’s Who in Law and Accounting 2006.

He also serves on the boards of Workshops Inc., which provides life skills and job training for people with disabilities; the Business Council of Alabama; the Freshwater Land Trust; the Cahaba River Society; the Boy Scouts of America, Greater Birmingham Council; Mountain Brook Athletics (past chairman and president); Norton Board of Advisors, Birmingham-Southern College; and the Campaign Cabinet of the United Way of Central Alabama Inc.

Proctor graduated from the University of Virginia in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in history and economics and from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1984, where he was an editor of the Alabama Law Review and a member of the John A. Campbell Moot Court Board.

The ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section unites plaintiff, defense, insurance and corporate counsel to advance the civil justice system. TIPS is a national source of expertise in tort, trial and insurance practice and brings lawyers together to share information and speak out on issues of importance. The section has about 25,000 members and over 30 general committees that focus on substantive and procedural matters in areas across the broad spectrum of civil law and practice. For more information about the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section, visit the TIPS website, www.americanbar.org/tips.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

Editors Note: Reporters are welcome to attend the award presentation at the 2012 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago.