After graduating from Northwestern University law school in 1991, Ernest Greer clerked for Judge Damon J. Keith on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth District. The judge told the Daily Report in 2003 that Greer's “people skills are outstanding.”

“Ernest is going to be a superstar,” the judge added in the article, which was Greer's profile when he was named to the Daily Report's On the Rise list.

Greer is a litigator, but he's proven more than adept on the business side of law. He served as Greenberg Traurig's Atlanta managing shareholder, rising to vice president and then co-president of the huge firm.