What’s Your Side-Gig?

All of our Birmingham Bar Association members are so much more than lawyers. Your lives are filled with family, friends, clients and community service, but you also have a variety of hobbies, talents and interests. Many of you could make a living in an alternate career such as restaurant critic, baker, artist, athlete, musician or stock trader. The members featured here have busy, successful legal practices but also find time to pursue other interests that they are passionate about.

Ed Berry

MY MUSIC CAREER HAS COMPLIMENTED MY LEGAL CAREER

What started as a kid in the basement bathroom squeaking on a sax has turned into a 35-year pursuit of music. I’ve been blessed over the years to play in many bands in the Birmingham area and to study with many great jazz musicians of the late 20th century from Alabama. Through apprenticeships with them, I grew musically to compose and record several albums of my own, including “David and Goliath,” which can be purchased on iTunes under Edward J. Berry and Harmony.

I initially thought that law and jazz were polar opposites, but I have found over my career that the improvisational spirit of jazz is a great complement to law.Always be prepared, but, when you don't know what to do, improvise!

Neena Speer

REALIZING A CHILDHOOD GOAL OF STARTING A NONPROFIT TO HELP KIDS

Step 1-2-3 Mentor for Life Initiative, a nonprofit mentoring program that I founded and lead, provides business skills, academic resources and extracurricular activities for K-12 students. I drafted the Step 1-2-3 business mentoring plan when I was just 8 years old and launched the program at age 23 as a 3L at the University of Alabama School of Law.

The organization started with field trips with NASA to see “Hidden Figures” and board funding. Only five years later, Step 1-2-3 has obtained funding from sponsors like Magic City Bar Association (2020) and AT&T of Alabama (2021) to support the second annual Step 1-2-3 virtual STEM camp, encouraging low-income families and international students from South Africa to attend to learn about STEM, IP Law and Leadership Skills.

I am proud to see my childhood plan become a reality and am eager to see how much Step 1-2-3 Mentor for Life can grow and how many more students our programs can impact.

David Horton

SHARING MY LOVE OF SPORTS IN A SERIES OF PODCASTS

I host a sports podcast called “The Fanatic Esquires” with my law school buddy, fellow esquire and co-host Patrick Burglass. Denzel Okinedo, who works as an associate at Burr Forman, deserves credit for the start of “The Fanatic Esquires” because he brought up the idea of Patrick and me doing a podcast when he was talking to us in the hallway of Cumberland School of Law in our final year of law school.

Patrick and I are huge sports fanatics. We talk about, provide analysis on and make predictions on the major news and events in college football, the NFL, the NBA, college basketball, the MLB and golf on “The Fanatic Esquires.” June 2021 was the 10th episode of the podcast, and Patrick and I have a lot of fun recording the podcast episodes. “The Fanatic Esquires” is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora, TuneIn+ Alexa and wherever you listen to your podcasts. #OnlySportsTalk.

Jenna Bedsole

EMMY-NOMINATED FILMMAKER

In 2015, I volunteered with the Alabama State Bar to create a three-minute film on Nina Miglionico, an inductee into the Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame. I got a bit carried away: that three-minute film turned into a 56-minute documentary that premiered at the Sidewalk Film Festival.

I have since written, produced and directed three other documentary films. Two of my documentaries were nominated for Southeast Emmys, including the film I wrote, directed and produced that celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment. All of them have been shown on Alabama Public Television and in many other venues.

Making documentaries is something I really enjoy. Some people run marathons; I create documentary films.

Dr. Roderick Van Daniel

THE ENERGY AND EXCITEMENT OF BEING AN ACTOR

I had to really think about which side gig to address. I have numerous side gigs. However, the most interesting one is that I am an actor. I began acting in 2017 when I moved to Boston. I had the opportunity to work on “Daddy’s Home 2.” I have not looked back since that point until the pandemic slowed me down.

My first significant principal role as an actor was being featured in the movie called “Deposit,” which was released in 2020 on Tubi TV, Amazon Prime and the Roku Channel. My character was named Ricky, and I was a police/detective. I was the hero in this movie; I saved the main character’s life at the end. Also, I have worked as an actor in “Law & Order: SVU,” “Blue Bloods,” “Ray Donovan,” “Power,” “Castle Rock,” “Miss Virginia,” “Luke Cage” and others. I have worked in multiple cities as an actor, such as New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Baltimore, Memphis and more.

I love the energy and the creative community within the acting world. Being an actor and a lawyer are both intertwined to me in that both arenas have to captivate an audience — as an actor, it’s the audience, and as an attorney, it’s the jury. It is interesting when you are on the set of a film and you are working with the likes of Denzel Washington, Ice-T, Mariska Hargitay, Lela Loren, Tom Selleck, Andre Holland, Rosie O’Donnell, John Cena, Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson. The energy level is phenomenal. It makes me want to continue to grow in the industry. Maybe one day, I will get a starring role as a lawyer. Only time will tell.