Frank M. Wilson

Frank grew up in Union Springs, Alabama. He attended Birmingham Southern College where he graduated magna cum laude. He received his law degree from the University of Alabama in 1978. He clerked for Federal District Judge Robert Varner.  In 1979, Frank joined Jere Beasley and was a founding partner in the firm now known as Beasley Allen, where he practiced for 19 years.

Frank’s practice includes a wide range of cases from commercial litigation to consumer class actions to product liability. Several significant decisions in product liability law have resulted from his appellate work. Of note, at the age of thirty-two, Frank argued and obtained a unanimous decision for his client before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Frank has handled more than 20 litigation matters on behalf of judges and lawyers including two former Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama, a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, a district attorney, three of the State’s most prominent law firms, and individual judges and attorneys in litigation and disciplinary proceedings.

He prosecuted and defended major litigation matters in fields of federal securities law, product liability, intellectual property, class actions, trucking litigation, and road construction litigation.

After a two-year retirement, he opened his own firm in 2000 where his practice focused on severe injury and wrongful death actions primarily in the field of product liability. In 2016, Frank joined the law firm of Copeland, Franco, Screws & Gill, P.A. as a partner.

Frank is married to the former Melissa Day of Opp, Alabama. Frank and Melissa enjoy international travel and spending time with their pugs – Thurston, Lewis, and Howard – as well as Alfred the cat.

• Personal Injury
• Accidents
• Defective Products
• Class Action/Multidistrict Litigation
• Wrongful Death
• Professional Licensing
• Appellate Law

• B.A. (1975) Birmingham Southern College
• J.D. (1978)
  University of Alabama School of Law
  • Order of the Barristers
  • John A. Campbell Moot Court Board

• Alabama
• District of Columbia
• New York

• US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
• ​US District Court for the Southern District of Alabama
• ​US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama
• ​Supreme Court of the United States
• ​5th and 11th U.S. Court of Appeals​

• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Alabama State Bar
  • Chairman, Task Force on Merit Judicial Selection (1997)
  • Bar Commissioner, 15th Judicial Circuit, Place 1 (2011-2014)
• Member, District of Columbia Bar
• Member, New York State Bar
• Member, Alabama Association for Justice
  • Sustaining Member (1995-2008)
  • Executive Committee
  • Amicus Brief Committee
• Member, Attorneys Information Exchange Group
• Member, Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions Committee
  • Appointed by Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Alabama
• Member, Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee
• Member (Court-appointed), Commission on Judicial Political Advertising
• Jt. Chair, Alabama State Bar Task Force on Merit Selection of Judges (1997)

• Chairman, Jubilee City Fest (2002)
• ​Board of Directors, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts
• ​Family Sunshine Center

• American Board of Trial Advocates

• Fellow, Alabama Law Foundation

• Alabama Super Lawyers

• Best Lawyers in America

• Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated

• Martindale-Hubble, AV Preeminent Rating, Judicial Edition (2018)

• Million Dollar Advocates Forum (1993 – present)

• McMahon v. Yamaha Motor Corp., USA, 95 So.3d 769 (Ala. 2012)

• Yamaha Motor Corp., USA v. McMahan, 183 So.3d 145 (Ala. 2015)

• Parsons Steel Inc. v. First Alabama Bank, 474 U.S. 518 (1986)

• First Alabama Bank v. Parsons, 390 So.2d 640 (Ala. Cir. App. 1980)

• Fulton v. The Montgomery Advertiser, 388 So.2d 533 (Ala. 1980)

• Parsons Steel v. First Alabama Bank, 679 F.2d 242 (11th Cir. 1982)

• Harper v. First Alabama Bank, 514 So.2d 1366 (Ala. 1987)

• Practice Tips for the Plaintiff’s Lawyer: Building, Managing and Proving Your Case (ABICLE, Product Liability Seminar 2003)

• Numerous seminar presentations for the Alabama State Bar, ABICLE, Practicing Law Institute, and others on subjects ranging from civil actions to recovery on behalf of child victims of sexual abuse, insurance fraud litigation, appellate practice, trial tactics in business tort litigation, and product liability litigation.