Navan Ward, an attorney with Beasley Allen, has been installed as the 75th president of the American Association for Justice. He is the second minority to hold the position and the first to hold it in 25 years.
As a member of the AAJ, Ward launched, in 2012, the American Association for Justice’s Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Academy, which trains qualified AAJ members, particularly those underrepresented within the association, to become more effective leaders. Graduates are encouraged to participate in leadership opportunities with the AAJ, including the six-to-seven-year national officer track, helping to retain minority leaders in the future of AAJ.
“On many different levels and across various landscapes, our country is rebuilding, so it is the perfect time to do the same within the American Association for Justice. The AAJ is an organization that advocates for access to justice and works to preserve the rights given by the 7th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Ward said. “It is important that the organization genuinely reflects the diversity that makes it great. I look forward to implementing strategies that will build on the work of the past presidents and strengthen our leadership moving forward.”
Toward that goal, Ward wants to focus on rebuilding AAJ’s membership, which declined during COVID-19, and to partner with other national legal organizations like the National Bar Association and American Bar Association. In addition, he wants to roll out the AAJ’s Diversity Pledge to Act, encouraging the recruitment, retention and promotion of minority attorneys with its member firms.
At Beasley Allen, Ward has an extensive history with medical liability cases. He is currently the lead attorney on the metal-on-metal hip implant litigation and proton pump inhibitor litigation. He serves on the Plaintiffs Steering Committee for the DePuy “ASR” Hip Implant Recall Multi-District Litigation, DePuy “Pinnacle” Hip Implant MDL and was appointed co-lead counsel for the Plaintiffs Executive Committee in the Biomet M2a Magnum Hip Implant Products Liability MDL.
In addition to his work with the AAJ, Ward is a former Alabama State Bar delegate for the American Bar Association, past president of the Alabama Lawyers Association, the Alabama State Bar’s Young Lawyers Section and the Montgomery County Association for Justice. He is a graduate of Leadership Montgomery, former chairman of the Father Walters Charity Golf Tournament and a member of the Alabama Law Foundation Grant Committee.
