Stacey Evans (left) joined Wargo French as a partner. Alina Singer recruited her a decade after Evans had recruited Singer to their shared former firm, Powell Goldstein. (Courtesy photo)

Plaintiffs lawyer and former state representative Stacey Evans has started the next chapter of her career, joining Wargo French as a partner after an ambitious run as the Democratic candidate for governor last spring.

Evans said she's fortunate to have already had three careers—starting with a defense litigation practice at Powell Goldstein, then a contingency fee practice and her political career. “This allows me to push all three,” she said.

Evans has already achieved some noteworthy milestones in the 15 years since she earned a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law.

After eight years practicing securities litigation at Powell Goldstein (acquired in 2009 by Bryan Cave, now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner), she left in 2011 with plaintiffs lawyer Lin Wood and Katherine Hernacki to form Wood Hernacki & Evans and take on a big qui tam case against dialysis clinic chain DaVita.

With Marlan Wilbanks of Wilbanks & Gouinlock, the team won a $450 million settlement from DaVita in 2015 that included $45 million in legal fees and costs. Evans said she spent most of her time at the boutique on the DaVita case. She formed her own plaintiffs firm in 2014, S.G. Evans Law.

Meanwhile, Evans was elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 2010, representing House District 42 (Smyrna) for four terms until resigning to run for governor.

Evans said she's been busy with several plaintiffs' defamation cases after losing the Democratic gubernatorial primary to Stacey Abrams, including one with Wood against CNN. She's also stayed involved in politics, helping several Democratic candidates during the general election. She successfully sued the GOP over a campaign mailer that accused Josh McLaurin, now the representative-elect for House District 51, of being under criminal investigation. “Having Democrats win is important to me.”

“I hope there is another political run in my future, but I do not have any specific plans right now,” Evans said.

'Win-Win'

When Wargo French partner Alina Singer, whom Evans knew from Powell Goldstein, asked if she'd consider joining the firm, Evans said, it sounded like a “win-win” the more she talked to her now-partners. The move allows her to take on defense litigation cases while expanding her contingency fee practice—and Wargo French's commitment to community service clinched the deal. “Coming to a firm with such strong PoGo ties is very special—and they have supported me so much,” she added.

Evans herself had recruited Singer to Powell Goldstein in 2007 from law school. Wargo & French name partners Joe Wargo and Mike French also started their careers at Powell Goldstein, and then reunited in 2003 to start their general practice firm. It has grown since then from 10 lawyers to almost 40, with additional offices in Miami and Los Angeles.

“Stacey is incredibly impressive—and a wonderful person,” said Singer, who heads the corporate practice at Wargo French, adding that the firm backed Evans in her run for governor. “It makes sense with Stacey's ties to the community, her background and experience.”

Evans said Wargo French's support for her community service and political work was critical to her. “I would not be able to go to a firm that didn't understand that's part of what makes me tick. This gives me the opportunity to have the type of career I want to have.”

A push by Republicans in the state Legislature to cut HOPE scholarship funding for college inspired Evans to run for governor, and she made HOPE funding a central issue of her campaign. She was the first in her family to go to college, putting herself through the University of Georgia and then UGA Law, thanks to the HOPE scholarship, Pell Grants and waiting tables.

“The HOPE scholarship has been so important for me, ” said Evans, who in 2015 donated $500,000 to UGA Law from her DaVita payout to create a scholarship for first-generation college students.

Wargo declined to name Wargo French's clients but said they include several Fortune 500 companies whom it represents in transactional and defense litigation work.

But Wargo French is small enough that it can “take a flier” on select plaintiffs cases, he said, without having to worry about client conflicts. “We're not afraid to take a plaintiffs case,” Wargo said.

He's taken on a couple of notable ones himself.

Wargo and his partner David Pernini won a $32 million settlement for a group of whistleblowers last year in a hard-fought qui tam case against one of the nation's biggest for-profit universities, American InterContinental University and parent company Career Education Corp., over allegations that aggressive recruitment tactics to get students defrauded the U.S. Department of Education of millions in federal student aid. The case took almost nine years after federal prosecutors declined to intervene and then Judge Richard Story of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia initially tossed out the suit in 2011.

Two years ago, Wargo took on another high-profile plaintiffs case against Alston & Bird over allegations of malpractice. Wargo's client, MSouth Equity Partners, accused Alston of mishandling tax issues over the 2011 merger of LMS Intellibound Group, in which MSouth held a majority interest, with another private equity firm to form Capstone Logistics—resulting in a $7.6 million tax bill for MSouth shareholders.