Continuing its hiring streak, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers has added three associates in Atlanta: Lauren Smith, Pearce Taylor and Brendan Thompson.

With their additions, Swift Currie has hired 14 lawyers so far this year, on top of 45 in 2018. With 150 lawyers, that makes it the largest litigation-only firm in Georgia.

Smith joined the insurance coverage and commercial litigation practice from family law firm Kupferman & Golden. Taylor joined from Marietta workers' compensation defense firm Sutton Law Group. Thompson, a career insurance defense practitioner, was at The Godsey Firm.

Molly Anderson has returned to the Atlanta Legal Aid Society as an Equal Justice Fellow after graduating from Yale Law School in 2019. Anderson, who was a summer intern for Atlanta Legal Aid in 2018, is embarking on an initiative to help LGBTQ communities in Georgia overcome legal barriers to Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP assistance.

Even though Atlanta has a large LGBTQ population, Anderson said in a statement, "Georgia's political landscape is volatile, and a number of statewide practice undermine LGBTQ individuals' access," to the federal programs. She will represent LGBTQ clients, develop "know your rights" trainings, do outreach with other community organizations and develop internal cultural competency training for Atlanta Legal Aid attorneys.

Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry has added two associates, Monica Pogula and William Stone III. Pogula joined the labor and employment practice from the New York City Law Department. Pogula has also held positions as Cathay Pacific Airways' flight crew employee relations manager in Hong Kong and as a lawyer for the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Stone joined the tax controversy practice, which represents taxpayers before federal, state and local taxing authorities. He previously clerked for Judge Joseph Nega of the U.S. Tax Court. Stone earned a law degree from Georgia State University in 2017, where he was a student attorney in the Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic.

Labor and employment firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart has hired two associates in Atlanta. Jaslyn Johnson was previously a trial attorney for the Office of the Solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor. At Ogletree, Johnson is focusing on OSHA-related matters in its workplace safety and health practice.

Susanna Bramlett, Ogletree's other new hire, was previously an associate from Cozen O'Connor's Chicago office. Bramlett, a 2017 graduate of Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, has returned to her hometown of Atlanta.

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has hired Desmond Dennis as an associate from Freed Grant. Dennis practices labor and employment law, including compliance and litigation. He earned a J.D. from Vanderbilt University in 2016.

Samantha Skolnick has joined litigation boutique Bloom Parham's real estate litigation practice as an associate from Freeman Mathis & Gary. Skolnick is a 2017 graduate of Emory University School of Law. At Freeman Mathis, she handled disputes related to construction defects, fraud, products and premises liability and medical malpractice claims.

Labor and employment firm Fisher & Phillips has hired J. Micah Dickie as an associate from Buckley Beal, where he represented plaintiffs in employment law matters. Dickie is the seventh attorney this year to join Fisher Phillips' national workplace safety and catastrophe management practice, where he will advise clients on risk mitigation and defending against OSHA inspections and investigations. He earned a J.D. in 2016 from Mercer University.

Robert Miller has joined family law firm Hedgepeth Heredia Family Law as an associate from estate planning firm DearthGalat. Miller started out practicing family law but got into estate planning when recently divorced clients asked for his help with their estate plans. In addition to his family law and estate planning practice, he handles probate litigation and estate administration.

DearthGalat, in turn, has hired Zachary Grant as an associate from litigation boutique Aitkens & Aitkens, which handles trust and estate disputes as well as personal injury and business litigation.  Grant earned his J.D. from the University of Georgia in 2016.

James-Bates-Brannan-Groover has added two associates, David Anderson and Bruce Dubberly IV, in its Macon office. Anderson joined the financial institutions and real estate practices from the Impact Group, where he was a client development process manager. He earned a J.D. from Mercer in 2016. Dubberly joined the general litigation practice from Cooper, Barton & Cooper in Macon after earning a J.D. from Mercer in 2017.

Savannah firm HunterMaclean has hired Robert Steinhoff as an associate in its real estate practice from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Denver. Steinhoff is a 2015 graduate of the University of Colorado Law School. Before becoming a lawyer he worked for national homebuilder KB Home. He was also a U.S. Army officer and served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.