Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Drayton Nabers Jr. is returning to private practice after 28 years as a shareholder with Maynard Cooper & Gale PC, where he will focus his practice on mediation and arbitration. Nabers, a Republican, was appointed to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2004 after serving as the state's finance director under Gov. Bob Riley. He left the bench after his November election defeat by the current chief justice, Democrat Sue Bell Cobb.

A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, Nabers began his legal career as a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He went on to practice law for 12 years with a Birmingham firm, where he hired some of the attorneys who would go on to form Maynard Cooper & Gale, and left to join Protective Life Corp. in 1979. Starting out as general counsel, Nabers later became chairman, president and CEO of the corporation. He retired in 2002.

The author of "The Case for Character: Looking at Character from a Biblical Perspective," Nabers currently serves as an adjunct instructor at the Samford University Beeson Divinity School.

"After almost 30 years, it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to practice alongside Drayton again," Fournier J. "Boots" Gale III, chairman of the firm's executive committee, said in a statement. Gale also serves as president of the Alabama State Bar.