Lucy Jones Tufts
B.A., 2004
General litigation, Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC
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“Originally, I was interested in forensic science, but it didn’t take me long to realize that my real interests were in debate, politics, and public policy. Within about a year [of coming to UAB], I decided that I wanted to go to law school. My decision-making process started with Ada Long and Rusty Rushton in the Honors Program—I loved the program, and they were critical in my decision to come to UAB. But I became certain that I wanted to go to law school after meeting John Grimes in the Department of Justice Sciences.”
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In an alternate universe, Lucy Jones Tufts might be living the life of an investigator on CSI: New York right now. Instead, she majored in English, attended law school, and is currently an attorney with the Birmingham firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, LLC. Interesting experiences and an inspiring group of mentors at UAB, she says, are what helped point her on her current successful path.
On becoming a member of the UAB Mock Trial Team:
“John Grimes runs the UAB Mock Trial Team. Ada Long put us in touch with one another, because I was interested in starting a debate team at UAB, and she suggested that before I went through that process, I should talk to John Grimes and investigate his program.
“I did mock trial at UAB for three years. There are attorney roles and witness roles in mock trial, and I was always in an attorney role. I think the main benefits of being on the team were developing public-speaking skills, the ability to think quickly on my feet, and leadership and time-management skills—all of those came in handy on the mock trial team, and I continue to use them in my practice now.
“I’ve always loved public speaking; I was on the debate team in high school. I’ve participated in a lot of issue campaigns—constitutional reform since 2001, tax reform in 2003—and spoken at all kinds of neighborhood-association meetings and rallies on those issues. There’s no question that mock trial gave me the confidence and the skill set that I needed to be able to speak without a written text in front of me. In mock trial, I gave a lot of the closing statements in our various tournaments; the closing statement is based on whatever evidence and testimony are brought out in the trial—and no two trials are ever the same. So to make a nine-minute closing statement at the national competition, you have to be flexible enough to think on your feet and do a summation based on what was submitted in that particular trial. We got to nationals all three years while I was there, and the skills that I developed over those three years have been invaluable in my ability to think on my feet and speak without notes with confidence and coherence.”
Tufts graduated from UAB in 2004 and spent a year working as the executive director of Impact: An Alabama Student Service Initiative, then a brand-new organization dedicated to opening up service-learning opportunities for Alabama youth. After helping Impact get off the ground, she went to Washington, D.C., to attend law school at Georgetown University. She graduated in May of this year and passed the bar exam in September shortly after starting work at Lightfoot, Franklin & White, LLC.
Her role as a new attorney certainly carries an enormous workload, but Tufts still finds time to stay active on a number of civic issues—and reform of Alabama’s state constitution, she says, is the issue about which she is most passionate. She currently serves on the board of Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform Inc., one of the driving forces behind reform efforts in the state.
On advocating for constitutional reform in Alabama:
“We’ve been trying to rewrite the constitution since it was ratified in 1901, so it has been a long process, but in the last five years, Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform Inc. has made substantial progress in the fight to get a people’s convention in Alabama. And we have educated countless Alabamians on the effect that the 1901 Alabama constitution has on their daily lives, on the inability of municipal and county governments to get things done because of the lack of home rule. I think awareness of this issue has increased greatly, and we see much more interest from the Alabama legislators every year. So I am confident that we will have a people's convention in Alabama soon.”
Tufts also finds time to give back to the UAB Mock Trial Team by volunteering as an assistant coach. It’s only natural that she would make that effort—serving on the team gave her more than just public-speaking skills.
On coaching the mock trial team:
“I think it is the single most important thing I do right now—it’s so much fun to work with the students. Beginning in June, we conducted evidence-training workshops every other
week on the federal rules of evidence, which the competition rules are based on. The case problem came out around August 15, and it had a description of the case, a set of affidavits from witnesses, and physical evidence that we could introduce. So we digested and analyzed the case, we highlighted the issues that were good for the plaintiff and the issues that were good for the defendant, and we started developing the most compelling case strategies for each side. We continued to do evidence training, and we started drafting opening statements, examinations, and closing statements.
“We just got back from an invitational tournament in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and one of our squads placed fourth in their division and the other squad placed fifth in their division. One of our attorneys, team captain Rebecca Johnson, received a Best Attorney award with a perfect score, and one of our newest team members, James Davis, won a Best Witness award. We are thrilled!
“My husband, David Tufts, is also a UAB graduate, and we met as co-counsel of the UAB mock trial team—and we are now assistant coaches of the team. We were actually the third documented case of matrimony among members of the team! That’s something John Grimes always laughs about.”