Meredith Hobbs

February 18, 2005 | Law.com

Littler Mendelson, the nation's largest labor and employment firm, has scored three lawyers from Powell Goldstein's Atlanta labor and employment practice. Gavin S. Appleby, who joins as a shareholder, said the group's departure was prompted by "a difference in philosophy on where an employment law practice fits." He predicted that other labor and employment lawyers would leave big general practice firms for the same reason.

By Meredith Hobbs

4 minute read

August 02, 2006 | Corporate Counsel

Some people would call Cliff Nelson a union buster, but he thinks of himself as a gladiator -- and says he's part of a dying breed of lawyers who practice labor law. Today less than 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized, compared to one-third of private sector workers when the AFL-CIO formed 50 years ago, and the traditional practice of labor law has declined accordingly. Many practitioners have shifted into employment law, an outgrowth of labor law, which over the years has eclipsed its parent.

By Meredith Hobbs

9 minute read

September 26, 2007 | Law.com

Arnall Golden Gregory has elected Glenn Hendrix as the firm's new managing partner. He will take over in January from William Kitchens, who has led the 130-lawyer firm for 12 years. Hendrix is a litigator like Kitchens, practicing health care and international law, including international arbitration. He has spent his entire career at the firm, joining in 1985 after receiving his law degree from Emory University Law School. Hendrix says he wants to grow the firm, which could mean adding offices.

By Meredith Hobbs

6 minute read

December 07, 2005 | Law.com

Product liability lawyer Robert D. Hays Jr. will be the new managing partner at Atlanta-based King & Spalding as of Jan. 1, taking over from Walter W. Driver Jr., who is leaving to become the president of the U.S. Golf Association. Hays says his goal is to continue the national and international expansion at King & Spalding, which opened a London office in 2003 and has also invested in growing its New York, Houston and Washington offices.

By Meredith Hobbs

6 minute read

October 25, 2005 | Law.com

After an evaluation of diversity in its outside law firms, the company sweeps in 40 new firm relationship partners.

By Meredith Hobbs

4 minute read

September 21, 2006 | Law.com

When Hurricane Katrina hit, Jake Schwartz, then the New Orleans outpost for Watkins Ludlam, evacuated to Atlanta to wait out the storm with his pregnant wife, their 14-year-old daughter and the family dog. But then the levees broke. Now the family has decided to stay in Atlanta, and Schwartz has joined Jackson Lewis as of counsel. But legal recruiters say there's a lot working against Gulf Coast lawyers looking to make Atlanta their permanent home.

By Meredith Hobbs

7 minute read

July 19, 2007 | Law.com

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart has added offices in Memphis, Tenn., and Jackson, Miss., after acquiring labor and employment firm Lewis, Fisher, Henderson & Claxton earlier this month. That gives the labor and employment boutique 30 offices nationwide. Ogletree Deakins gained 19 lawyers from the deal -- 10 in Memphis, seven in Jackson and two in Los Angeles, who will join the firm's office there.

By Meredith Hobbs

1 minute read

February 25, 2005 | Law.com

Six plaintiffs lawyers have started the Atlanta Trial Lawyers' Society, an invitation-only group for seasoned courtroom combatants. Although it may initially sound like an exclusive old boys� club, it's actually the city�s first such organization for women. All the members head their own firms and have won jury verdicts ranging from $500,000 to $1.5 million.

By Meredith Hobbs

3 minute read

July 31, 2006 | Law.com

As Schreeder, Wheeler & Flint prepares to follow other Atlanta firms out of downtown, it's also appointed John Christy its new managing partner. Even though the new digs are not much bigger than the firm's present offices, the space is more efficient, eliminating a law library in favor of online information. The 23-attorney firm has no plans to merge with a larger firm or to expand radically. However, the firm would like to hire more real estate people, "if we could find them," Christy says.

By Meredith Hobbs

4 minute read

August 22, 2007 | Law.com

Six months ago, Chuck Whitney, the Atlanta managing partner of Duane Morris, started a nuclear power practice for the Philadelphia-based firm. There has not been a contract signed for a new nuclear power plant in the United States in 30 years, but now the time is right, says Whitney, who is a veteran of the Georgia Power team that finally got the Plant Vogtle reactors built in the late 1980s. "Nuclear is the best way," Whitney says. "It's not perfect, but it's the best of the imperfect choices."

By Meredith Hobbs

9 minute read