E. Berton Spence

Bert Spence has a broad background in commercial real estate, banking and financial services, product liability, personal injury defense, and general commercial litigation. For more than three years, he served as the chief litigation counsel in the legal department of one of the top 10 banks in the United States.

Bert counsels corporate clients in a wide range of litigation matters throughout Alabama state and federal courts. He represents clients in matters involving banking, including consumer finance and consumer protection; commercial lending, including foreclosure and receivership; class actions, insurance coverage and bad faith; insurance agency and procurement issues; workplace exposure, toxic tort, general tort issues; and product liability, including automobiles, motorcycles, ATVs, industrial equipment, tools, chemical products and pharmaceutical and medical devices.

Beyond litigation, Bert has represented numerous lenders and special servicers regarding problem loans, with a particular emphasis on remedial issues in Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securitized lending (“CMBS”) including foreclosures, deed-in-lieu transactions, receiverships, loan modifications, guaranty claims, general issues concerning realization on collateral, and leasing of lender-acquired properties.

As the former head of a major financial services company’s in-house litigation team, he has overseen litigation and mediation/settlement activities all across the U.S. and internationally. In that role, he also supervised development of eDiscovery policies and participated in responses to governmental investigations. He is a frequent writer and speaker on legal topics.

Awards & Honors

•Best Lawyers in America, 2019 Lawyer of the Year, Commercial Transactions/UCC Law, Birmingham
•Listed in Best Lawyers in America, Banking and Finance Law; Commercial Transactions/UCC Law, 2014-2026
•AV-Rated Martindale-Hubbell

Articles & Presentations

•Co-Presenter, 'Designing Your Company's Arbitration (or Non-Arbitration) Strategy: Considerations for In-house Counsel,' Association of Corporate Counsel, November 2021
•Author, 'Up Next: Does Congress Have Constitutional Authority to Regulate Evictions and Foreclosures?' September 2021
•Author, 'Texas Federal Court Ruled Federal Government Has No Constitutional Power Over Foreclosures and Evictions,' March 2021
•'Financial Services Industry Regulation in The Biden Era,' Business Alabama, January 2021
•Author, 'Mortgage Lenders Beware: CARES Act Potentially Erases Billions of Dollars in Federally-Backed Loan Values,' May 2020
•Co-presenter, 'Mortgage Banking Law,' Mortgage Bankers Association of Alabama Education Session, June 7, 2017

Experience

Illustrative Experience

•Served as Deputy General Counsel for $140 billion financial services company where he managed litigation throughout the nation and internationally as head of a five-lawyer litigation team;
•Represented the country’s largest Special Servicers in CMBS problem loan remediation;
•Defended products for many of the largest national and international manufacturers in both personal injury (product-liability) and warranty claims.;
•Handled commercial litigation - including class actions - for large and small companies, including some of the largest banks and insurers in the U.S.;
•Defended one of the largest transportation companies in the world in a series of hundreds of workplace exposure cases;
•Defended leading pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in drug and device litigation;
•Successfully represented Alabama’s Governor in a constitutional challenge to the state’s property tax system.
•Served as arbitrator, beginning in 2001, in over 40 cases, all decided with reasoned (written) opinions and selected for inclusion on the National Arbitration Forum’s Panel of Neutrals as well as the Alabama Center For Dispute Resolution’s Roster of Arbitrators;
•Wrote and worked for passage of numerous items of legislation involving Alabama’s tort laws and civil procedure, class action certifications, and healthcare laws, as well as drafting proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for the country’s leading defense bar organizations to ensure fact-based pleading and proportional discovery.

Bert's News and Insights

08.21.2025
Firm News

27 RumbergerKirk Attorneys Named to the 2026 edition of The Best Lawyers in America

Dan Gerber and Leonard Dietzen Named “Lawyer of the Year;”...

08.15.2024
Firm News

Best Lawyers in America 2025 Edition Recognizes 24 RumbergerKirk Attorneys

Two Named “Lawyer of the Year” and Two Named “Ones...

09.21.2023
Media Mentions

When Legal Issues Loom, Small Business Are Wise to Think Outside Their Own Offices, Business Alabama

Hiring an external general counsel can be advantageous for smaller...

08.17.2023
Firm News

Best Lawyers in America Recognizes 24 RumbergerKirk Attorneys with Managing Partner Frank Sheppard Named Lawyer of the Year

ORLANDO, FL - August 17, 2023 - Best Lawyers has...

08.19.2022
Firm News

23 RumbergerKirk Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers in America 2023

Orlando, Fla., August 18, 2022 - RumbergerKirk is pleased to...

01.05.2022
Media Mentions

Banking Experts Talk What’s On the Horizon for 2022, Birmingham Business Journal

Bert Spence joins a roundup of banking experts to discuss...

12.16.2021

Top Tips: Cost-effective and Timely Dispute Resolution

Bert Spence provided the following top tips for timely dispute...

11.02.2021
Events

Designing Your Company’s Arbitration (or Non-Arbitration) Strategy: Considerations for In-house Counsel

Rebecca Beers, Bert Spence and Pete Tepley teamed up for...

09.08.2021
Bankruptcy and Restructuring

Up Next: Does Congress Have Constitutional Authority to Regulate Evictions and Foreclosures?

Stay Tuned for the Coming Ruling from the U.S. Court...

Shutterstock.com/J.J. Gouin

08.19.2021
Firm News

Eighteen RumbergerKirk Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers in America 2022

ORLANDO - August 19, 2021 - RumbergerKirk is pleased to...