Sunday School Teacher Inspires Attorney to Seek Justice

Growing up in Alabama, Keiron McGowin was inspired by a former Sunday School teacher and lawyer to go into a profession that seemed well equipped to help people in the community.

“He was just a nice, gentlemanly guy, very knowledgeable, wise and respected.” McGowin also saw his mentor as an intelligent, well-rounded role-model who used his profession for the betterment of others. “I just thought that was something I would like to do.”

His mentor is now a circuit judge in Clark County and McGowin became an assistant district attorney in Mobile County before joining Campbell Law PC, A Purpose-Filled Practice™, specializing in consumer fraud and termite protection services. McGowin has been practicing law for 18 years having majored in political science at the University of Alabama, from which he graduated with a bachelor’s in 1994. Between undergrad and law school, he worked in retail – pushing grocery carts at Sam’s Club – and construction before graduating from Samford University Cumberland School of Law in 1998.

McGowin prides himself on standing up for the rights of others. “I’ve made it my goal to be a voice of justice for people in need, especially those who have suffered pain and loss at the hands of fraudulent business owners.”

He believes his experience working in the DAs office has helped him with the tougher cases he encounters daily. The experience allowed him to “look over details and know the facts, and prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a much higher burden than a civil case, so I just kind of naturally worked the cases harder, because I had to at the DAs office.”

McGowin recalls one of his favorite cases in which he helped an elderly Bessemer widow win a jury verdict against a Pest Control Company for some $475,000 when, despite a termite bond, the roof was severely damaged by termites.

“I’m just glad she didn’t have to worry about what she was going to do the rest of her life because she was really worried. She’d done everything she needed to do to protect and insure her home but because the termite company never applied a prevention treatment she was worried about losing her house. She and her husband worked hard and paid their debts off and here she is with basically a destroyed house.”

The case is a good example why lawyers can help homeowners fight termite companies. “Trying to deal with termite companies themselves – because they are going to – it’s just like dealing with an insurance company. They are going to nickel and dime you to death and drag it out until your statute of limitations runs. And it’s an area that’s highly technical, governed by regulations that are highly technical on how to treat and so forth. They don’t know that, and they need to get a knowledgeable lawyer involved as soon as possible. The problem with finding a knowledgeable is that for a lawyer to understand well what the company did wrong and how to prove guilt and what all the damages are that a client can recover takes hundreds of hours of often boring study. Lawyers simply cannot invest that amount of time to give the best advice to a handful of termites over a 30-40 year career. Without a lawyer, homeowners have to take their chances, paying companies year after year ‘and then they find out it’s not protected.’”

It’s good-old fashioned faith-based morals that set McGowin apart from other lawyers. He said he learned from his grandfather, a gas station owner, how to be an ethical businessman. One day some 30 years ago a customer brought a new Mercedes into the gas station and one of the station employees accidentally filled the engine with regular gasoline instead of diesel fuel. “The guy came back and said the motor was ruined. And my granddaddy didn’t even ask him questions. He said: ‘Just take it to the Mercedes dealer in Mobile and have them send me the bill.’” McGowin laments the loss of business people who take care of their customers.

When he’s not helping clients take a stand against entities that take advantage of others, McGowin enjoys tinkering with old cars, learning about his Southern heritage and spending time with his wife, Dana, who is also a lawyer, and teenage daughter. McGowin also has served on the trustee board of his church and taught Sunday school like his former mentor.