I was born in South Georgia, in Douglas, in Coffee County, where both sides of my family were farmers. When I was three, my family moved to Tucker, in Metro Atlanta. In 1982, after graduating from high school at 17, I shipped out to Fort Knox, Kentucky for the Summer and then started attending Georgia Military College, as an ROTC cadet. I loved the Army from my first day and less than two years later, I was commissioned as an Infantry Second Lieutenant in the reserves. I served as a platoon leader, mortar platoon leader, and company executive officer while I was in college and law school. After completing law school at Georgia State University, I went to the Army’s version of law school at the University of Virginia and then was assigned as Trial Counsel (prosecutor) for the Second Infantry Division, prosecuting cases under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. From there, I went home to Georgia and served as a defense attorney at Fort Benning, before returning home to Marietta to practice law.
From my base in Marietta, I spent over 25 years practicing law, handling a types of court cases throughout Georgia. If it could possibly end up in a courtroom, I took it on. My favorite type of case, both in terms being interesting work and also helping to make a difference for others, has always been a personal injury case. I have had a keen interest in medicine since I was a child. I served as a Staff Judge Advocate in the Georgia National Guard up until 1997.
In 2018, I returned to South Georgia and my family made its home in Bainbridge. I restricted my practice to only doing wrongful death, traumatic brain injury, and personal injury cases. We feel very fortunate to live and work in South Georgia, but I still travel to where ever my work takes me.
The average person is wholly helpless when it comes to fighting a powerful insurance company or big corporation. If everyone acted fair and reasonably, I would be out of a job. The ability for a member of society “to speak truth to power” is largely limited to the courtroom. The only real threat to wrong doers and those who harm us or members of our families and communities is to hold them accountable in a court of law. Just the ability to do that resolves most injury claims and cases. For those cases that do not settle, as citizens of the United States our founders gave us all the individual right to have a jury trial in civil case, to have the case decided by a jury of our peers, under the Seventh Amendment.
You will find that I believe my clients have the right to be represented by a lawyer, not by a paralegal or legal secretary (as you will find true at many “mill” personal injury firms). The lack of personal service (especially from big TV advertising firms) is why I frequently hear from people who want a new lawyer, an actual lawyer, on their case. I get to know my clients and their families and treat them just like I would treat a member of my own family. I shoot straight with people and follow the golden rule. If you or a family member have been injured, when you hire my firm, you get “ammunition for the injured”, so that you can obtain the compensation and justice you deserve.
