Attorney Barret Albritton makes a good first impression. His smile is the kind that breaks down barriers and sets people at ease, and his firm handshake says, “I can take care of your problems.” But his second impression is the one that sticks.
The key to the lasting impression Albritton makes is modesty. A skilled litigator at Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan, a civil litigation defense firm, he has every reason to boast about his work. But he speaks humbly about himself while expressing deep respect for the history that surrounds him at the firm.
“Everyone in Tennessee knows Paul Leitner, Tom Williams, Buz Dooley and Gary Napolitan. It’s an honor to work for them,” he says, glancing down at the conference table at which he’s seated. A few of the 130-year-old firm’s late partners look approvingly from the walls on which their portraits hang.
Albritton is also a giving member of the Chattanooga community. Perhaps the contribution of which he’s the most proud is his involvement with Big Brothers Big Sisters: For the last three years, he’s been a big brother to a young teen. Albritton smiles as he lists the activities they do together – playing basketball, riding four wheelers and going to Lookouts games. Albritton also attends the boy’s football and basketball games.
“We’re both sports guys. I got lucky,” he says.
But instead of accepting accolades for his good deed, Albritton says he’s getting more out of the relationship than he hopes the young man is.
“It’s been eye-opening. These kids are like any other kids: they want to be loved and to do the right thing, only a lot of them don’t know what the right thing is,” he says.
Albritton also demonstrates modesty in the way he talks about the development of his practice. Leitner Williams named him a partner in January 2011, but instead of presenting himself as someone who’s arrived, he says he’s a work in progress.
“The firm gives us the opportunity to work under partners in different areas, including worker’s compensation, construction, labor and employment, and so on. While I was an associate, I worked with a lot of those guys, and as I gained experience and my practice grew, the areas on which I concentrated narrowed. Lawyers tend to gravitate toward certain kinds of law, but I’m still finding my way,” he says.
Despite his unassuming nature, the 32-year-old Albritton has the wisdom of a seasoned lawyer. For example, even though most cases today settle before going to court, Albritton has not yielded to the temptation of mediation. “I need more grey hair and trial experience before I can tell someone what a judge or jury would do,” he says.
Albritton has also learned that developing a single approach to dealing with people and resolving issues can hurt a lawyer and his clients. Instead, he allows the facts of each case and the people with whom he’s working to dictate his methods.
“The part of this business I find the most interesting is dealing with different personalities. You have to manage some people in a more aggressive manner, while if you take a nicer approach with others, you’ll get more out of the exchange,” he says.
Albritton speaks about the law naturally, as though he was born to be an attorney. But if it were not for a few specific turning points, he might not be practicing law today. One defining moment came during his junior year in high school, when a civics teacher asked him if he’d like to watch attorneys argue a case before the Tennessee Supreme Court.
The event was part of the Scales Project.
“It was a juicy case. A veterinarian from upper east Tennessee had become infatuated with the young lady with whom he was working and put out a contract on her husband. The defense said their client was older and losing his mind.
“Later, we had an opportunity to not only talk with the justices but also ask the attorneys why they made certain arguments. I asked the defense why they used the insanity defense. They had based it on the fact that their client was aging. It seemed like a last ditch effort,” Albritton says.
Albritton grew up on Signal Mountain, attended college at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and then earned his law degree at Mercer University of Law School in Macon, Ga. When he graduated in 2003, he returned to Chattanooga and began working for Leitner Williams.
The firm put him in court right away and let him decide on the direction his practice would take.
“This firm doesn’t pigeonhole its attorneys into a worker’s comp or a labor and employment group, but rather exposes them to a lot of different areas of the law. That was great for me because I didn’t know what I wanted to do other than litigation,” he says.
Over the last year, Albritton has done some business litigation, and he’s currently working on several road construction cases. But he says one of the most monotonous areas of the law – worker’s comp – has provided him with some of his most interesting cases.
“I had a case early on that involved not only the South Pittsburg Police Department but also the TBI crime lab. Very few worker’s comp cases involve a criminal investigation, so that was fascinating,” he says.
Albritton’s one hope is to argue more cases before a jury. “One of the things on which this generation of lawyers will miss out is the trial experience some of the older lawyers had. I have a few jury trials coming up this year, but you never know,” he says.
Albritton will have plenty of time to prepare those cases for trial, should they come to that. He and his wife do not have kids, and she works long hours as a nurse, allowing him to stay late on her days at work without feeling the gravitational pull of an evening at home.
Perhaps because of their demanding schedules, Albritton and his wife make the most of their time together, spending as much of it as they can outdoors. The couple has a home on Signal Mountain and quick access to Chickamauga Lake, which they cruise on a small ski boat they purchased a few years ago.
Albritton and his wife also work out together, getting up daily at the bleary-eyed hour of 4:30 a.m. to hit the gym. Last year, being physically active became an imperative for Albritton, who had gained a lot of weight since becoming an attorney.
“I had always been an athletic person, but changing from that to a sedentary job affected me. Lunch became our outlet. Every day at 11 o’clock, we’d start talking about where we were going for lunch,” he says.
Through diet and exercise, Albritton has lost 67 pounds over the last six months.
“I got tired of my clothes fitting wrong and of not feeling good. When my doctor put me on blood pressure and cholesterol medicine, that was it,” he says.
Good health is a valuable commodity for an attorney, as is the ability to manage time well. Even though Albritton has a full schedule, he has enough time available to serve as a member of the board of the Chattanooga Bar Association and to participate in Leadership Chattanooga. The goal of the latter is to acquaint young professionals with local issues and services and to develop their leadership skills. While going through the program, Albritton has acquired a vision for how to serve the less advantaged youth of Chattanooga.
“I have been talking with friends in Leadership Chattanooga about mentoring programs we would like to start. The biggest issue these kids have is an inability to see tomorrow. A lot of them are living only for today, and I would like Chattanooga to get involved in giving them a sense of future,” he says.
As for the days that lie ahead of him, Albritton plans on staying the course at Leitner Williams. “As long as I’m having more good days than bad, I can see myself doing this for the foreseeable future and beyond,” he says.
There are lawyers in Chattanooga who have practiced law nearly two decades more than Albritton has been alive. These men and women created the foundation on which Albritton is building his life and career. If he continues to along his current path, he will someday be one of the old guard, responsible for ushering in a new generation of men and women who will spend their lives practicing law. Albritton knows this, and speaks humbly about the legacy he hopes to leave.
“I want to be thought of as someone who worked in this profession with integrity and did a good job for his clients.”
Albritton has already made a good first impression, and is well on his way to leaving this lasting one.