Press Release

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Jones Walker continues its growth, announcing that Jerry W. Powell has joined the firm's Birmingham, Ala. office as a special counsel in the firm's Banking & Financial Services Practice Group. Mr. Powell will practice primarily in the area of banking and financial services law, with an emphasis on banking regulatory matters, creditors' rights, and compliance.

Prior to joining Jones Walker, Mr. Powell served as Senior Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Compass Bancshares, Inc., and its lead bank, Compass Bank, a $70-billion financial institution headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., which is wholly owned by BBVA, S.A., a financial services group with more than $700 billion in assets operating in 30 countries.

As the chief legal officer for the United States operations of BBVA, Mr. Powell was responsible for providing comprehensive legal advice to BBVA's companies and their subsidiaries. Mr. Powell's 29-year tenure with one of the country's most successful financial institutions has placed him at the forefront of critical issues affecting financial institutions and their boards of directors and senior managers. Most recently, his work has focused on a wide variety of bank regulatory matters with federal and state banking authorities and other governmental agencies.

William H. Hines, Jones Walker's Managing Partner, stated, "We are pleased to welcome Jerry to Jones Walker. He joins us at a time when we're greatly expanding throughout Alabama, especially in Birmingham, and his nearly three decades of experience within the financial services industry adds remarkable strength to our Banking & Financial Services Practice Group."

"Jerry has incredibly vast knowledge of the banking and financial services sector," added partner Michael D. Waters, who heads the firm's Birmingham office and serves as co-chair of its Banking & Financial Services Practice Group. "Jerry instinctively understands the day-to-day operations of banks and financial institutions. His experience is invaluable to our group, as he provided nearly all types of legal representation to Compass Bank in his 29 years of service. Jerry knows, from firsthand experience, the spectrum of legal services that banks require, as well as the ways that we can best meet the legal needs of banking and financial services clients," he added.

A native of Montgomery, Ala., Mr. Powell is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, cum laude. Mr. Powell received his juris doctor degree, cum laude, from The University of Alabama School of Law. In law school, he was a member of the Alabama Law Review, a recipient of a Farrah Order of Jurisprudence Scholarship, a Hugo L. Black Scholar, and a member of the Order of the Coif. Following graduation from law school, Mr. Powell served as a clerk to the Honorable Seybourn H. Lynne, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama.

Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre L.L.P. (www.joneswalker.com) provides a comprehensive range of legal services to a national and international corporate client base through offices in Alabama, Arizona, the District of Columbia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

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