Allen Brinkley grew up in Huntsville graduating from Huntsville High School in 1967. He then attended

Samford University and the University of Alabama where he graduated in 1971, with a degree in Banking

and Finance.  He received his law degree also from the University of Alabama. 

Allen has maintained a diverse trial and appellate practice over three decades.  In his early years, he

tried many criminal cases some of which reached the appellate courts, including Clift v. State, 352 So. 2d 836, 838 (Ala. 1977) murder, and Benedict v. State, 494 So. 2d 865 (Ala. Crim. App, 1986) manslaughter.  In

the civil arena, he obtained the largest personal injury verdict ever rendered to date in Madison County

in 1981, which was the subject of an appeal in Martison v. Cagle, 454 So. 2d 1383 (Ala. 1984).  He set

the record for the largest verdict ever rendered to date in Madison County in 1983, in Spragins v.

First Alabama Bank, at $2.1 Million.  That case went to the Supreme Court of Alabama three times,

first on mandamus prior to trial, then two appeals 475 So. 2d 512 (Ala. 1985), 515 So. 2d 962 (Ala 1987). 

In 1983, he again set the record for the largest verdict ever rendered in Madison County at $8.25

Million in Stewart v. ATEC, which was the subject of three appeals at 628 So. 2d 467 (Ala. 1993), 652

So. 2d. 270 (Ala. Civ. App. 1994) and 674 So. 2d 1296, 1300 (Ala. Civ. App. 1995).  He has tried many

medical malpractice cases.  See Jones v. Bradford, through Bradford, 623 So. 2d 1112 (Ala. 1993),

Wells v. Storey, 792 So. 2d 1034 (Ala. 1999) and Williams v. Robinson, 512 So. 2d 58 (Ala. 1987),

69 A.L.R. 4th 861.

Allen and his long time partner, Richard Chesnut, have been involved  in extensive trust and estate

litigation over the years including Rodenhauser v. Doss, 819 So. 2d 616 (Ala. 2001), Howard v.

Spragins, 350 So. 2d 318 (Ala. 1977).  Salters v. Salters, 55 So. 2d 169 (Ala. 1989).  They have

also been involved in considerable fraud and business litigation including Reliable Mechanical v.

Integrated Construction, 781 So. 2d 207 (Ala. 2000), Dean v. Myers, 466 So. 2d 952 (Ala 1985),

Farm Country Homes v. Rigley, 404 So. 2d 573 (Ala. 1981), Magic Homes v. Jolly, 539 So. 2d

303 (Ala. Civ. App. 1988), Menedez v. Colsa Inc. 852 So. 2d 768 (Ala. Civ. App. 2002) and

Lankford v. Witmondt, 528 So. 2d 850 (Ala. 1988). 

Allen is married to the former Melissa Crute of Huntsville and they have two children, John and

Rebecca, both of whom are practicing lawyers.