Sumner Fortenberry is a commercial and construction litigator with a penchant for complex appellate matters. Sumner briefed, argued, and won his first appeal before he was 30 years old. He has handled appeals — some with tens of millions of dollars at stake — in multiple federal circuit courts and the Mississippi Supreme Court. Prior to joining Bradley, Sumner clerked for the Hon. Leslie H. Southwick of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sumner also maintains a varied trial practice in federal and state court, as well as in arbitration proceedings. The primary focus of his trial practice is construction and commercial litigation, specifically cases involving breaches of contract and business torts. He also has experience in a wide variety of other substantive areas, including insurance coverage disputes, shareholder disputes, employment matters, and governmental affairs.
Sumner received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. During his time at UVA, he lived on a farm in the Virginia countryside and served on the Journal of Law and Politics. He also participated in the school’s First Amendment Clinic, assisting the clinic with brief writing in free speech cases in state and federal court.
Sumner also has a B.A. (summa cum laude) in Political Science from Mississippi State University. During his time at Mississippi State, he was named an Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Political Science and selected to the Society of Scholars. Sumner also spent a summer at the University of Oxford, where he studied the American Constitution and interpretative theory.