Craig Shirley

Craig was born and raised in Dothan, Alabama. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance from Auburn University, where he was a member of Auburn's baseball team. After graduating from Auburn, Craig began his legal education at Cumberland School of Law in the fall of 2016.

From the very first year of law school, Craig proved that not only did he have the intelligence and legal mind necessary, but he also had the fire and determination necessary to be a respected trial lawyer. Craig had a phenomenal record at the law school for winning trial competitions. In the spring of 2017, as a first-year law student, Craig won Cumberland's inter-school trial competition. From there, Craig was a selected to be a member of the Cumberland National Trial Team, where he immediately started winning national trial competitions. While at Cumberland, Craig won the 2017 National Civil Trial Competition in Los Angeles, California, an invitation-only competition against some of the nation's top law schools. Craig continued his winning by winning the 2018 National Trial Competition Regional Tournament in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In the fall of 2018, Craig also won individual advocacy awards at national competitions including awards for Best Cross Examination. Due to his success, Craig was twice selected to represent Cumberland in the Top Gun National Mock Trial competition hosted by Baylor University. The Top Gun National Mock Trial competition is a one-of-a-kind, invitation-only tournament where the best advocates from the top sixteen trial advocacy schools in the nation compete head-to-head against each other. In 2019, Craig finished as the runner-up for the nation's best advocate.

In addition to Cumberland's National Trial Team, Craig was also a member of the Cumberland Law Review, which published his article, "Alabama's Wrongful Death Act and the Unborn Plaintiff," in 2019. Craig was also one of only a few dozen students chosen to serve as a Judge Abrahm Caruthers Teaching Fellow.

After graduating law school, Craig carried that fire, determination, and winning spirit into his legal practice. Prior to joining Hollis Wright in 2021, Craig spent a number of years working in insurance defense litigation, which allows Craig to bring a unique and informative perspective to better evaluate each and every case. Since joining Hollis Wright, Craig has committed his legal practice to representing injured victims throughout the State of Alabama. Craig practices in the areas of automobile and trucking accidents, premises liability, product liability, medical malpractice, and industrial accidents. Craig has successfully recovered millions of dollars for his clients, has tried multiple cases to verdict, and has consistently been named to The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 under 40.

In addition to his legal practice, Craig continues to help coach Cumberland's nationally-ranked Trial Team as well as serve as an adjunct professor of Trial Advocacy at Cumberland. Craig is married to his wife Alex Shirley of Mobile, Alabama, and together they have a daughter, a son, and a Golden Retriever, Miller.

• False Arrest: Does the Police Officer Have Immunity?, presented via blog as a practice-specific topic, August 28, 2023.
  
• Craig A. Shirley, "Alabama's Wrongful Death Act and The Unborn Plaintiff," 49 Cumb. L. Rev. 195, 195-223, 2019.

• Alabama Bar Association, 2019-present
• Alabama Association for Justice, 2021-present
• Birmingham Bar Association, 2019-present