Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C., announced today that Richard W. Bethea, Jr. and E. Stephen Jett, former members of the firm who have been senior executives of Astec Industries, Inc., have rejoined the firm as shareholders.  Formerly Astec's Executive Vice President and Secretary, Mr. Bethea has returned to the firm's litigation practice.  Prior to his six year tenure at Astec, Bethea led the litigation practice at the law firm of Stophel and Stophel, P.C.  After serving as General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Astec for two years, Mr. Jett returns to the firm's business practice.

BACKGROUND

Both native Chattanoogans, Bethea and Jett have strong family ties to the area.  Bethea's parents, Anna Marie Bethea and the late Richard W. Bethea, were the owners and operators of Bethea's Restaurant, a popular family restaurant in the Brainerd area which closed in 1986 after fifty years in operation.  Mr. Bethea, Sr. was also a prominent realtor in the Brainerd area for 30 years.  Jett's father, Harry, soon to be ninety-two years of age, was a firefighter and retired as Chief of the Chattanooga Fire Department.

Bethea attended Bright School and The Baylor School, and grew up working in the family's restaurant business where he began as a dishwasher on the weekends when he was 10 years old.   A product of public schools, Jett graduated from Central High School.  He notes that when he attended, Central High was located on Dodds Avenue, where the McCallie School soccer field is presently located.

Bethea received both his undergraduate business degree and graduate law degree from the University of Georgia, where he displayed talent that would later prove valuable in and out of the courtroom.  He was the captain of the University of Georgia Intercollegiate Debate Team which won the DSR-TKA National Collegiate Debate Championship in 1975.  In law school, he was elected to the Georgia Law Review and was the Captain of the UGA Moot Court Team which won numerous regional and national honors.  He was also chosen to participate in the prestigious UGA Prosecutorial Clinic and was inducted into the Order of Barristers during his final year.

In 1978, immediately after graduation, Bethea joined the Chattanooga firm of Stophel, Caldwell & Heggie, P.C.  When the firm divided into two firms in 1986, Bethea became a senior member of Stophel & Stophel, P.C., leading the firm's litigation practice.  He continued in this position until January 31, 1997 when he left private practice to become Vice President and Corporate Counsel of Astec Industries, Inc., which was one of the firm's major clients.  Bethea served in this role and then became Executive Vice President and Secretary of the Company in 2000.   In that capacity Mr. Bethea was responsible for corporate administration and headed up the Company's investor relations program, appearing frequently on behalf of the Company at individual and institutional investor conferences around the country.  He also played a key role in the negotiation of several of Astec's major acquisitions and coordinated the Company's strategic planning and corporate university programs.

While at Astec, Bethea was also active in the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, the American Highway Users Alliance, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Asphalt Pavement Association, the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, and the Construction Industry Manufacturer's Association, now the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.  In conjunction with his involvement in these organizations, Mr. Bethea was called upon to lobby in Washington on behalf of the road building industry and America's highway users.

During his twenty years of private practice before joining Astec, Bethea specialized in the trial of complex business cases, with particular emphasis on product liability, patent infringement, unfair competition and trade practices, and breach of contract actions.  In 1984, he was among the first attorneys to be certified as a specialist in civil trial advocacy in the State of Tennessee by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.  Mr. Bethea served as national litigation counsel for Astec and two other companies, and has been lead trial counsel on cases in 34 states, and has been involved as co-counsel in cases in Canada, Great Britain, France and Australia. 

Bethea has been a member of the Tennessee Bar and the State Bar of Georgia since 1978 and is admitted to practice before all trial and appellate courts in those states.  In addition, he is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th and Federal Circuits. 

Bethea has attended the National College of Advocacy, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's Advanced Advocacy Program.  In addition, he has been called upon on numerous occasions by clients and organizations such as the Defense Research Institute, the National Business Institute and the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association to teach seminars on product liability prevention, manufacturer's risk prevention, civil procedure and trial advocacy.  Mr. Bethea also appeared on NBC's Dateline news magazine show as principal spokesperson for a client involved in high profile litigation.

He is a founding co-chairman of the Litigation Section of the Commercial Law Affiliates, now Meritas, the world's largest organization of more than 180 independent business and commercial litigation law firms and nearly 5,000 attorneys covering all 50 states and more than 60 countries on six continents.   Mr. Bethea is a member of the Chattanooga Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, American Bar Association, State Bar of Georgia, and the Defense Research Institute.

Pursuing a career in law was the furthest things from Jett's mind for the first twenty-five years of his life.  After receiving his undergraduate degree in engineering from Tennessee Tech, he attended the University of Tennessee Space Institute where he received an MS in aerospace engineering.  Following, he accepted a position as an Aerodynamics Engineer with General Dynamics Corporation in Ft. Worth, Texas.  Two years later, he decided on a career change and enrolled in the University of Texas School of Law where he graduated with honors in 1973. 

Upon graduation, Jett also joined Stophel, Caldwell & Heggie, P.C. and became a partner in 1978.  After the firm split, Jett continued with Stophel & Stophel, P.C. which later merged to form Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.  In 2000, he withdrew from the firm to join Bethea and become the General Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Astec Industries, Inc.

Prior to joining Astec, Jett's practice was largely a corporate and business transaction practice, with particular emphasis on health care law.  As Jett returns to private practice, the firm anticipates that he will be active in all of these areas.

Jett is a member of the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bar Associations, and has been active in the Health Care Law Section of the Tennessee Bar Association.  He is also a Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation.  Prior to joining Astec Industries, he served on the Board of Directors of Meritas.  Since 1980, Jett has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, and has been Chairman since 1999.  He remains very interested in the service CARTA provides the community and CARTA's role in the redevelopment of our downtown area.

Jett believes that the experience gained during his two years as General Counsel at Astec will be very valuable in advising clients with whom he works.  For both Jett and Bethea, their positions in senior management of a public corporation have given them important insights to client problems.  Investor relations, securities regulations, risk management, and lobbying are some of the issues that these attorneys would not have encountered in depth while in private practice. 

These gentlemen take pride in their pasts and the experiences they say help them better understand this industry, the mindset of a businessman, and the forces that compete in the decision making process.

Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C., is a Chattanooga-based firm with more than 45 attorneys who serve as counsel for local, regional, and national businesses, financial institutions, local governments, and nonprofit organizations. The firm practices in areas including labor and employment, intellectual property, health care, business planning, taxation, estate preservation and all aspects of litigation.