Jerry Watson, Chief Legal Officer - AIA: What's Behind the Paper

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• published: 04 Mar 2010
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AIA, the nation's oldest and largest family of bail bond insurance companies, shares what's behind the paper. Watch Jerry Watson, AIA's Chief Legal Officer, discuss what he thinks differentiates AIA from other bail bond sureties. Jerry Watson serves as Chief Legal Officer to AIA, Senior Vice-President and Legal Counsel, Bail, at IFIC and as National Legal Counsel for ACC. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Private Enterprise Board of Directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Americas largest bi-partisan state legislator member organization on whose board he has represented the commercial bail industry for the past l5 years. He has also served as General Counsel of the American Bail Coalition since its founding and is a member of the Bail Advisory Council of the Surety and Fidelity Association of America (SFAA). Jerrys undergraduate and law degrees are from Baylor University and he is a graduate of the National College of Criminal Defense Attorneys and Public Defenders. He has testified as an expert on bail in various state and federal cases, among them being the countrys largest bail related damage suits. He is a long time member of the American Bar Association for whom he is a published author. Many other articles on the subject of bail have been written by Jerry and all are available on AIAs website. In Jerrys 42 years in the bail industry, always as an attorney, he has represented local retail agents, general agencies, insurance companies and insurance companies trade associations before state and federal courts and regulatory agencies. He has drafted and testified in favor of pro-bail legislation at the state and national levels for most of his career, and continues this work today. Jerry remains a strong national advocate for commercial bail bonding as a presenter at continuing education seminars for attorneys, judges and professional organizations.