'Southern Winter 2019

“It is important that we first acknowledge that this is a
problem, and then that we deal with it,” Fry says.
He has established a lawyer wellness committee
for the Birmingham Bar charged with finding ways
to incorporate activities that help manage the stress
involved with being a lawyer.
Birmingham is a diamond in
the rough city. You can have
a great quality of life and a
sophisticated professional life.
CHARLES FRY ’95
As the fourth graduate of Birmingham-Southern College to serve as
president of the Birmingham Bar Association, Charles Fry is proud to have
strong roots in Birmingham.
“Birmingham is a diamond in the rough city,” Fry says. “You can have a great
quality of life and a sophisticated professional life. Not many markets offer these
things in the way we do, and we are still in the process of maturing and growing
from the past.”
BSC graduates Alan Rogers ’77, Bruce Rogers ’80, and Carol Ann Smith ’71
preceded Fry in leading the Birmingham Bar as president, and he has continued
their positive influence on the professional organization.
As the current General Counsel of the University of Alabama Health Services
Foundation, P.C., Fry often finds health at the top of his mind. He saw an
immediate need for improvement in lawyer wellness, as the profession correlates
with high levels of alcohol abuse and suicide rates.
Fry is the first in-house lawyer to be elected president –
something that he has not taken lightly. He has made
recruiting in-house lawyers to the Bar a priority.
Under Fry’s leadership, the UA Health Services
Foundation has added about 300 physicians and has
expanded throughout the state, opening locations in
Anniston, Montgomery, Florence, and Mobile.
One project that has been specifically meaningful to Fry
is building the first proton therapy facility in the state at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham, which can provide
cancer patients with state-of-the-art, non-invasive treatment.
Fry worked with the department of radiation oncology in
developing the project from the ground up.
Fry says that everything he has done in Birmingham was
set in motion during his time at Birmingham-Southern.
“I owe so much to attending Birmingham-Southern
College,” Fry says. “It was a critical education for me; it gave
me confidence in myself – which I sorely lacked. It was the
challenge of learning that presented itself everyday by my
professors that prepared the way for me to believe in myself.
This ultimately led to me taking on leadership roles. ”
After graduating from BSC in 1995 with a philosophy
degree, Fry worked as a paralegal at Bradley Arant Rose &
White LLP. He then attended the University of Alabama
School of Law and was a clerk for Judge Arthur J. Hanes,
Jr. Fry then worked at Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose LLP,
where he became a partner.
His work in Birmingham
goes beyond the professional
sphere. Fry has served on
the board of the Youth
Leadership Forum since
1999. The organization,
modeled after Leadership
Birmingham, provides
opportunities for high school
students to learn about what is
happening in the community.
10%
estimated percentage of
THE BIRMINGHAM BAR
who are BSC grads.
Fry’s mindset on service is out of a genuine love for his
community. “We as professionals owe it to the community
to give back, as we have been blessed with important tools
to provide the community with something that it didn’t
have before.”
22 / ’southern