Andy Peters

September 19, 2007 | Law.com

General Motors once belonged to an industry group that aggressively worked to discredit global warming claims. Now, GM is one of at least eight companies that have left to join a consortium of companies and environmental groups that is calling for mandatory reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. The president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change says the corporate change of heart came with the realization that it was pointless to fight -- and in hopes of having a bigger say in the final laws.

By Andy Peters

4 minute read

March 03, 2006 | Law.com

It used to be that an Atlanta company preparing for a big deal would shun its local counsel for a Manhattan law firm. Now, mergers and acquisitions practices at Atlanta firms routinely handle multibillion-dollar transactions. Case in point: Smith, Gambrell & Russell partner Robert Paller, who represented AirTran Airways when the discount airline raised $4.5 billion to buy 114 planes from Boeing. The rise of Atlanta firms comes as the national value of M&A deals rose to $1.1 trillion last year.

By Andy Peters

6 minute read

May 31, 2007 | Corporate Counsel

Industry observers have viewed Coca-Cola's purchase of Energy Brands and the Glaceau brand as Coke's embrace of the new world of vitamin-enhanced beverages. Coke may also be forging a new world among its transaction lawyers, as it tapped Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom instead of King & Spalding for the $4.1 billion cash deal. It's been called the biggest corporate acquisition in Coke's history, and the absence of King & Spalding is noticeable.

By Andy Peters

5 minute read

April 24, 2006 | Law.com

Forget that meeting across town. Lawyers from Welch Spell, a small Atlanta firm, recently held meetings in six cities as part of an agreement aimed at helping Danish-based Coloplast to buy two business lines from California's Mentor Corp. and expand into the still-fertile area of penile implants. Purchase price: $463 million. Welch Spell partner Laurance D. Pless says the transaction was a complicated one, involving more than a dozen lawyers on both sides. Says Pless: "There were a lot of 16-hour days."

By Andy Peters

4 minute read

October 30, 2007 | Law.com

A Georgia state representative is planning to introduce legislation to rewrite the entire state Open Records Act. Changes that Rep. Jill Chambers, R-Atlanta, is seeking to make include upgrading violations of the law from a misdemeanor to a felony and improving the media's ability to obtain records. Chambers' and other Republican state lawmakers' efforts diverge from past attempts by some party members to weaken the law concerning disclosures regarding some financial donors and economic-development efforts.

By Andy Peters

6 minute read

March 21, 2006 | Law.com

Powell Goldstein has formed a strategic partnership with lobbying group Massey & Bowers Public Affairs. The venture is further evidence that Atlanta's big law firms are systematically developing lobbying practices on the state level, either through building in-house practice groups or forging partnerships. Lobbying on the state level has become more important as the federal government shifts responsibilities and regulations from Washington, D.C., to the states.

By Andy Peters

3 minute read