Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C. is pleased to announce that Robert H. Fowlkes, Christopher C. Frost, and Barry A. Staples have been named shareholders of the firm.

“All of these individuals have been outstanding members of our firm, and we are very pleased to have them join the shareholder ranks,” said Mark L. Drew, Managing Partner of the firm.

Robert H. Fowlkes practices in the firm's General Litigation, Complex Litigation, and Health Care practice groups. His practice focuses on general commercial litigation involving a wide variety of matters including health care, real estate, contractual disputes, partnership disputes, products liability, and insurance coverage disputes. Mr. Fowlkes also represents financial institutions in commercial litigation matters ranging from the collection of sizable debts and obligations to the defense of lender liability allegations. Mr. Fowlkes has experience in both traditional and alternative dispute resolution forums. Mr. Fowlkes is a member of the American, Alabama State, and Birmingham Bar Associations. He is recognized in Alabama Super Lawyers as a Rising Star for his work in the Business Litigation field. Mr. Fowlkes graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama School of Law where he was an Articles Editor for the Alabama Law Review. In addition, he was a Hugo Black Scholar and a recipient of the Dean M. Leigh Harrison Award. Following graduation, Mr. Fowlkes was elected to the Order of the Coif. Mr. Fowlkes received his undergraduate degree cum laude from the University of Alabama where he was a member of Jasons and Beta Gamma Sigma.

Christopher C. Frost practices in the firm’s Insurance and Financial Services, Complex Litigation, Product Liability, and Retail and Consumer Products practice groups. He concentrates his practice on defending insurance and financial services companies against complex, bad-faith, fraud, class and punitive damages claims. He has particular expertise in all aspects of life claims, including rescission, bad faith, STOLI, and suicide-related matters, and typically handles disputes over policy face amounts into the tens of millions of dollars. In the coverage arena, Mr. Frost routinely handles cases involving a wide variety of coverage lines including professional and commercial liability, catastrophic medical, disability and fidelity coverage. He also handles commercial, products liability, personal injury and wrongful death cases. Mr. Frost is recognized by Alabama Super Lawyers as a Rising Star for his work in the Insurance Coverage field. Mr. Frost graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Georgia Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama where he graduated magna cum laude. While at Alabama Mr. Frost was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Mortar Board, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Anderson Society. In addition, he was selected as a Distinguished Military Graduate. Before joining Maynard, Mr. Frost served over seven years as a commissioned Army officer and AH-64 Apache helicopter pilot.

Barry A. Staples is a member of the firm’s Public Finance and Economic Development and Incentives practice groups. His practice includes the representation, as bond counsel, of cities, counties, boards of education, utility systems, public and private universities, non-profit organizations, industrial development boards, educational and public building authorities, redevelopment authorities, and improvement and cooperative districts for residential and commercial development. Mr. Staples also acts as bond counsel and special counsel to public bodies and private entities with respect to various state and local tax incentives, public/private partnerships and economic development. He has also served as special counsel in Alabama and other states to various financial institutions in providing secured and unsecured financing to public and private organizations. Mr. Staples graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law and received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College. He is a member of the Alabama and Georgia State Bars and the National Association of Bond Lawyers. He is recognized by Alabama Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in the area of Bonds/Government Finance.