Walter A. Griess

Walter A. Griess has practiced law in Alabama for five decades. He earned his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1974 and was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1975, later adding admission to the Georgia State Bar in 1987. He is licensed to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Walter began his career as Assistant City Attorney for Birmingham, then served West Alabama for fifteen years as County Solicitor and Assistant District Attorney for Greene County and the 17th Judicial Circuit. That prosecutorial experience — knowing how the other side builds its case — has informed his defense work ever since.

In 1997 he formed Griess & Shaw, P.C. with David T. Shaw; the firm became Griess, Shaw & Willingham, P.C. in 2015. A former President of the 17th Judicial Circuit Bar Association, Walter has also taught the next generation of trial lawyers as adjunct faculty in Trial Advocacy at the University of Alabama School of Law, and completed advanced training with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy at Harvard Law School.