Securities Litigator
and Republican Stalwart

Born to a schoolteacher and a Baptist minister who moved around the rural South to preach, Oscar N. Persons had a plan. Inspired at age 10 by a chemistry set, he'd go to Georgia Tech, become a chemist, run a company.

After the Navy and with a degree from Tech, he was on his way as a management trainee at the telephone company, which offered to pay for graduate work. Would it be business or law school?

He figured, “I can always use some law.” So for three years Persons attended Emory University law school while working, arriving at class Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and staying until 10. In his fourth and final year, he was married and could attend day classes.

“By that time, I decided I liked the law,” says Persons.