Leila Watson

Co-founder & Principal

40 yrs experience
·
Memphis, TN

Bar admissions

Alabama
Tennessee

Awards and recognition

01Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year - Personal Injury Litigation (2018)
02Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year - Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (2014)
03Super Lawyers Top 10 Alabama Attorneys (2008-2025)
04AV Preeminent (Martindale-Hubbell)
05B-Metro Magazine Hall of Fame Honoree (2019)

Memberships

Alabama Bar Association (At-Large Commissioner, 2021-present)
American Board of Trial Advocates - Alabama Chapter (President, 2023)
Birmingham Bar Association (Past President, 2017)
American Bar Foundation (Life Fellow)
Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions Committee (Chair, 2021-present)

Background

Leila H. Watson is a Co-founder and Principal of Cory Watson Attorneys in Birmingham, Alabama, with over 40 years of legal practice. Watson earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law and her Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is admitted to practice in Alabama and Tennessee. Watson notably represented Jett Williams in a case establishing her as Hank Williams Sr.'s natural daughter, updating Alabama law so no other heir would have to shoulder the burden of finding their inheritance on their own. She secured Alabama's first double-digit million-dollar wrongful death verdict at $15 million. Her honors include Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year in Personal Injury Litigation (2018) and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions (2014), Super Lawyers Top 10 Alabama Attorneys, and American Bar Foundation Life Fellow. She has served as Birmingham Bar Association President (2017) and as Alabama Chapter President of the American Board of Trial Advocates (2023).

Notable cases

—$15M
Alabama's first double-digit million-dollar wrongful death verdict

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