Judge Jim Roberts

Judge Jim Roberts has served as adjunct faculty coaching Cumberland School of Law’s National Trial Teams for the last 23 years and as the head coach for National Trial Team since 2018. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Tournament of Champions sponsored by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. During his time as coach and overseeing Cumberland’s National Trial teams, the school has won numerous regional and national trial competitions and greatly expanded its trial advocacy program. During that time, Cumberland has been consistently ranked as one of the top ten Trial Advocacy programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report and the Trial Competition Performance Rankings. Judge Roberts is the Region 8 Representative of the NALAE organizational committee.

In addition to his work with Cumberland, Judge Roberts is a sitting Circuit Court Judge in Tuscaloosa, Al. where he presides over criminal cases ranging from drug possessions to Capital Murder and civil cases ranging from car wrecks to Medical Malpractice and Products Liability. He has served as President of the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and President of the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association. Judge Roberts has been a member of the Board of Directors for Legal Services Alabama, the Alabama Inter-Departmental Public Safety Commission, the Alabama Drug Court Task Force, the Alabama State Bar Criminal Mediation Task Force, and as a member of the faculty of the Georgia Criminal Defense College. He currently serves on the Alabama Indigent Defense Review Committee and as a member of the Alabama Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee for the Alabama Rules of Evidence.