E-mail: rtc@cunninghambounds.com
Phone: 251-471-6191
Fax: 251-479-1031

Robert T. Cunningham graduated with honors from the University of South Alabama in 1973. He then attended the University of Florida receiving his Juris Doctorate with honors in 1975. During law school, he was Executive Editor of the University of Florida Law Review. He was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1975 and has practiced with the law firm of Cunningham Bounds, LLC since that time.

Before entering college, Mr. Cunningham served his country in the United States Marine Corps from 1965 to 1970 as both an enlisted man and officer. During his service as a helicopter pilot, he flew over 300 combat missions in Vietnam, including participation in the Battle of Khe Sanh, before being seriously wounded during the 1968 Tet Offensive. After several months of hospitalization and rehabilitation in Japan, he returned to combat and flew another 200+ missions. Among his decorations are the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, 29 Air Medals and the Combat Action Ribbon. He has served his local community as a member of the Board of Directors of the Mobile Metropolitan YMCA, the Gulf Coast Conservation Association and Leadership Mobile. He was a member of the first graduating class of Leadership Alabama and currently chairs the board of the Cunningham Family Charitable Foundation. He and his wife, Joanna, have been married for forty years and are the parents of two sons and a daughter and the grandparents of four boys and three girls.

Mr. Cunningham's areas of practice are complex litigation, environmental torts, class actions, personal injury, products liability, insurance fraud, bad faith, medical negligence, intellectual property, and admiralty and maritime law. He has represented plaintiffs in numerous cases resulting in record breaking verdicts in Alabama and nationwide. He led the firm's pro bono representation of the University of Alabama in its fight against the NCAA sanctioning of the Crimson Tide football team and was lead trial counsel in the State of Alabama's $11.9 billion verdict against ExxonMobil for underpayment of royalties. (NLJ, Feb. 9, 2004) In October 2007, he was lead counsel for Dirt, Inc. in an environmental contamination trial resulting in a $108 million jury verdict against Halliburton, Inc. (NLJ, February 18, 2008) In October 2008, he was co-lead counsel, with partner Skip Finkbohner, in an intellectual property trial representing inventor Dr. Peter Mannsfeld against German chemical company Ineos Phenol GmbH & Co. KG which resulted in a jury verdict of $192 million.

Affiliations

Mr. Cunningham is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (Board of Directors 2003 - 2007; State Chair 2001 - 2006), the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Society of Barristers. In addition, he is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, is an Advocate member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America since 1987 and in Alabama "Super Lawyers" since inception. In 2010 and 2009, Mr. Cunningham was named one of the top 10 attorneys in the state of Alabama by Super Lawyers magazine and was the only lawyer from Mobile to receive this honor (see cover article). Also in 2009, Best Lawyers in America® named him the "Mobile Best Lawyers Personal Injury Litigator of the Year." In 2010, 2008 and 2007, Mr. Cunningham was named one of the 500 "Leading Lawyers in America" by Lawdragon Magazine. In addition, he was listed in Lawdragon's top 500 "Leading Plaintiff Lawyers in America" in 2007 and among the top 500 "Leading Litigators in America" in 2006. Chambers USA 2009 lists Mr. Cunningham as one of the top lawyers in America in the area of Commercial Litigation.

In addition to practicing law, Mr. Cunningham's interests include flying and fishing. He is a 57 time IGFA World Record holder on light tackle and fly rod. He also holds the Louisiana state record for tarpon on fly.