(Jackson, MS/September 15, 2011) W. Scott Welch of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, has been named Mississippi's State Chair for the Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. During his three-year term in this role, Mr. Welch will be responsible for leading the Mississippi Fellows group, representing the Mississippi Fellows at the American Bar Association Annual and Midyear meetings, organizing local events, and submitting and approving nominations as vacancies occur.

An independent, nonprofit organization for more than 50 years, the American Bar Foundation is dedicated to advancing justice through rigorous research on the law, legal practices and the law's impact on society. The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation is an honorary organization of lawyers, judges, law faculty and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Membership in the Fellows is highly selective, limited to the top one-third of 1% of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by Fellows in their jurisdiction and elected by the Board of the American Bar Foundation.

A shareholder in the Firm's Jackson office, Mr. Welch concentrates his practice in civil litigation with an emphasis on business tort and other complex commercial cases, transportation, product liability, personal injury and insurance litigation. Mr. Welch has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America® in the practice areas of personal injury litigation, commercial litigation, product liability litigation and transportation litigation; by Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers; and by Mid-South Super Lawyers, where he was listed among the top 50 attorneys in the state of Mississippi. In 2011, Mr. Welch was named the Best Lawyers' Jackson, Mississippi Personal Injury Litigator of the Year. Mr. Welch is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and has been named a Lawdragon 500 leading lawyer since 2006.