Attorney Donald Sweeney to receive Legacy Award from Alabama Association of School Boards

The Alabama Association of School Boards on Friday plans to honor attorney Donald Sweeney Jr. with a Legacy Award for his leadership and service in education law for more than 40 years.

Sweeney, who works with numerous school boards across the state (including the Mountain Brook, Homewood and Hoover school boards), is to be presented the award during the association’s annual convention at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, just before state schools Superintendent Michael Sentance addresses the group.

“This is a special award that AASB created to honor Mr. Sweeney’s unique and immense contributions to the association and to local school boards,” AASB Executive Director Sally Smith said in a news release. “For more than 40 years, his name has been synonymous with the practice of education law in this state, and his sound counsel has been invaluable to AASB, its members and countless school board attorneys throughout the state.”

Sweeney, a partner in the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings law firm, is nationally recognized as an authority in public education law.

He was the founder and first president of the Alabama Council of School Board Attorneys and is the only Alabama attorney to serve as president of the National School Board Association’s Council of School Board Attorneys. Sweeney has also served as attorney for the last three Governor’s Task Forces on Education, as chairman of the State Attorney General’s Public Education Task Force, and as state chairman for the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education.

Sweeney is an adjunct professor of law at Cumberland Law School and authored “Education Law: A Legal Reference.” He also specializes in employment law, transportation law and civil rights legislation.

He once was selected as Lawyer of the Year for the City of Birmingham and has served as president of Rotary Club of Birmingham and the Country Club of Birmingham. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Walter Gewin on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Beau Grenier, chairman of the board and managing partner for the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings firm, said in a news release that Sweeney is an esteemed and valued member of the firm.

“He is truly deserving of this distinctive honor,” Grenier said. “We are so pleased to see that his diligence and talents are recognized and appreciated by his clients, colleagues and the education community.”