Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2009-03-30

Birmingham attorney J. Mark White was named 2009 Distinguished Alumnus of Samford University's Cumberland School of Law Friday (March 27).

White, a 1974 graduate of the law school, received the award at Cumberland's National Alumni Association dinner at Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa. He has served as 2007-09 president of the national alumni group.

Founder of the Birmingham law firm of White, Dunn & Booker, now White Arnold & Dowd, P.C., White is president of the Alabama State Bar Association. He is a past president of the Birmingham Bar Association and a member of the Cumberland School of Law Advisory Board.

White has been chair of Alabama Supreme Court committees on judicial canons & ethics and judicial campaign oversight, co-chair of a national committee on judicial campaign conduct, and a member of the Judicial Inquiry Commission for the State of Alabama.

Also during the dinner, Birmingham attorney Lenora Pate was introduced as incoming president of the 7,200-member Cumberland National Alumni Association for 2009-2011. A 1985 law graduate, Pate is a member of the Sirote & Permutt law firm.

The dinner was one of several events held during Cumberland's annual Alumni Weekend.

 
Located in the Homewood suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,324 students from 44 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford is widely recognized as having one of the most beautiful campuses in America, featuring rolling hills, meticulously maintained grounds and Georgian-Colonial architecture. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second-highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.