I was born and raised in West Point, Georgia. After graduating from law school, I moved 10 miles up the road to LaGrange, the County seat, to hang out my shingle. You can view my resume here.
As a small-town lawyer, I initially took whatever work walked in my door. My primary interest was litigation of any sort, and over the years I have tried a lot of cases of a lot of different kinds. You can view a listing of the types of cases I have handled here.
In 1990, I was appointed to be the practicing attorney member of the Board of Trustees of the Troup County Fund for the Administration of an Alternative Dispute Resolution Program at the inception of filing fee financed ADR programs in Georgia. We were fortunate to have our program selected as a pilot program for the State. The professionals from the Justice Center of Atlanta came down to LaGrange and trained about a dozen of us as mediators. Although I received the training as a general civil mediator in 1990, at that point in my legal career I didn’t really appreciate the value of mediation. After 28 years of law practice and 12 years on the bench as a Superior Court Judge, I now have a better understanding of both the value and benefits of mediation as well as the limitations of litigation. In addition to the experience I gained over my 40+ years in the law, and the early mediation training I received, I have recently taken more training in alternative dispute resolution. I am currently registered with the Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution as an arbitrator, general civil mediator, domestic relations mediator and specialized domestic violence mediator.
ADR presents an opportunity to resolve lawsuits privately, allowing the parties to have more direct decision-making authority, while reducing the stress, uncertainty and expense of litigation. If you decide to hire me to mediate or arbitrate your case, I promise to make the process as easy and as comfortable as possible, to be professional and accessible, and, most importantly, to work hard to help your clients reach a mutually agreeable resolution of their case.