Stephen Andrew Strickland

I have over twenty-four (24) years of extensive experience in the areas of civil and criminal law in Alabama’s state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels. For most of my legal career, I have had a BVRating from Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating.

I started working as a law clerk for Richard Jaffe in 1987 when Mr. Jaffe was a partner at Jaffe, Burton & Digiorgio, P.C., and I became an associate there in 1990 upon graduation from law school. When Richard Jaffe decided to establish his own practice, I followed Mr. Jaffe as an associate and later became his partner at Jaffe & Strickland, P.C. Later, Derek Drennan and Hube Dodd would become associates and then partners at Jaffe, Strickland, Drennan & Dodd, P.C. I was in charge of writing most of the firm’s appellate briefs, and I ran all aspects of the civil litigation side for the firm, including case management, complex discovery, motions practice, depositions, trials, and appeals, when necessary. Most of the civil cases that I have handled were on behalf of injured individuals but I have also successfully represented businesses as well. In addition, we were co-counsel for the Honorable Bernard Kincaid, Mayor for the City of Birmingham – 2000-2008.

In Alabama, five Death Row inmates have been exonerated and are now free. I successfully represented Wesley Quick, the 5th exoneree, on his appeal. In addition, I worked with Barry Scheck and Nina Morrison from The Innocence Project to obtain the release of an Alabama inmate through DNA evidence.

I have worked on numerous death penalty cases, including Brandon Mitchell (Birmingham Thanksgiving murders – I was court appointed for the direct appeal along with Donald L. Colee, Jr. – worked on case for over 4 and ½ years), Michael Lewis (direct appeal – worked on case for over 5 and ½ years), Joseph Wilson (Huntsville cell phone murders – represented in post conviction– have been working on this case for over 12 years – December 2001 until present), James McWilliams (worked on his post conviction state and federal for over 11 years), Charles Gregory Clark (direct appeal and post-conviction – have been working on this case for over 14 years – November 1999 until present), Mohammad Sharifi (Iranian convicted of capital murder of his wife and her friend – direct appeal and filed State Rule 32 Petition – worked on this case for over 4 years), O.M. v. State (Gadsden fire bomb murder – after he won his direct appeal of juvenile transfer, case was remanded and dismissed), Leroy White (hired UAB linguistic expert, cert granted by Alabama Supreme Court and then quashed due to United States Supreme Court decision regarding substantial doubt jury instructions), Wesley Quick (I won his appeal and he was later acquitted at his new trial), Merrill v. State (death sentence changed to life without parole; played very minor role), Walter Leroy Moody (legal research), Eric Rudolph (some research and represented civil litigation), and Jermaine Robinson (charged with capital murder before Supreme Court's juvenile decision years later).

I have won numerous civil and criminal appeals, including double jeopardy victories in 2010 in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. I have over fifteen (15) federal appeals that I have authored, either on my behalf or the law firm of Jaffe, Strickland, Drennan, & Dodd, P.C., to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals involving civil and criminal cases, and I have had at least eight (8) oral arguments before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. I have written over 100 civil and criminal briefs before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, Alabama Supreme Court, and numerous petitions to the United States Supreme Court.