Mr. Lightfoot was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1964.  He was one of the founding partners of this firm in 1990.

Mr. Lightfoot attended The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina from 1956-1958 and graduated in 1960 from the University of Alabama, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He served two years as an infantry company commander and paratrooper, thereafter graduating in 1964 from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was a member of the managing board of The Alabama Law Review.

Mr. Lightfoot served as President of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2002 - 2003, was President of the Alabama State Bar in 1996 - 1997, and was President of the Birmingham Bar Association in 1990 - 1991.  He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates and was the 1988 recipient of the Walter P. Gewin Award for outstanding service to the Alabama Bench and Bar in Continuing Legal Education. He co-chaired the Planning & Program Committee for the United States Court of Appeals' Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conferences of 1992, 1994 and 1995.  He is listed in three categories in  The Best Lawyers In America, having been listed in every edition since the first one in 1983.  Mr. Lightfoot served as President of the Downtown Kiwanis Club in 1990 and as President of the Civic Club Foundation in 1991.  He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Independent Presbyterian Church in 1995, and in 2009-2010, he served as President of the High Hampton Colony Club in Cashiers, North Carolina.  A bronze sculptor, his portrait busts are displayed in the United States Supreme Court building and in the Alabama Supreme Court building; other commissioned works are in private collections across the country.

Mr. Lightfoot has been married to his wife since 1963, and they have two grown children and five grandchildren.