Upon graduating law school in 1989, Mr. Armstrong joined a litigation firm in Mobile specializing in criminal defense and plaintiff cases. He was immediately put to the "test of fire" and tried his first jury trial, a murder case, within a few weeks of passing the bar. He has been trying a broad range of criminal and civil cases in both state and federal court ever since. In 1992, Mr. Armstrong opened his own office specializing in a trial practice. He also developed a specialty in legal collections rooted in a family collection business founded by his great-grandfather in 1915. In that same year, he was chosen by his peers as one of the top "young" criminal trial lawyers in a survey of lawyers conducted by The Mobile Bay Monthly. On January 9, 1999, Mr. Armstrong was featured on the PBS program "Frontline" concerning the dangers of the Government's use of informants in federal drug conspiracy cases.