Robert Buckley has joined Freeman Mathis & Gary as a partner from Altisource, a publicly traded company providing default mortgage and other real estate services, where he was senior litigation counsel. Buckley is part of Freeman Mathis' national commercial litigation and directors and officers practice. He spent four years at Altisource, where he oversaw its U.S. litigation strategy, after seven years as a litigation associate at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.

Fields Howell has added Tyler Bryant Walker, who handles insurance coverage and bad faith litigation, as of counsel from Goodman McGuffey. Walker represents insurers in coverage and bad faith claims at the state, federal and appellate level. She also defends insureds in complex personal injury cases, including premises liability, dram shop and negligent security cases.

National labor and employment firm FordHarrison has added two first-year associates, Estefania "Stef" Ramirez and Timia Skelton. Ramirez is a 2019 graduate of Mercer University Law School, and Skelton earned her J.D. from the University of Georgia. Both were summer associates at the firm.

Hawkins Parnell & Young has hired an associate, Garrett Drogosch, for its defense litigation team, handling trucking, product liability and premises liability cases. Drogosh is a 2019 graduate of the University of Georgia Law School. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Wake Forest University and worked as an auditor at Deloitte before law school.

Emily Ward, an associate at Chilivis Cochran Larkins & Bever, is the recipient of the inaugural Catherine M. O'Neil Mentoring Award from the Women's White Collar Defense Association. Ward handles civil and criminal litigation, including white collar, health care and commercial cases. She is co-chair of the litigation section of the State Bar of Georgia's Young Lawyers Division, and a 2013 graduate of UGA Law, where she was named Outstanding Graduate by the National Organization of Women, among other recognitions.

WWCDA established the award last year, which recognizes an outstanding junior practitioner in white collar defense, to honor O'Neil, a partner in King & Spalding's special matters practice, who died in 2017 of pancreatic cancer. King & Spalding has funded a $2,500 continuing education stipend as part of the award, which commemorates O'Neil's "enthusiasm, optimism and dedication to mentoring lawyers," according to the WWCDA.

Sally Yates, the former deputy attorney general and a partner in King & Spalding's special matters practice, emceed the group's awards gala in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3.

Linda Klein of Baker Donelson is among the American Bar Association litigation section's "100 Women Who Inspire Us," who were recognized for the section's yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the constitutional right to vote.

Klein is a longtime state and national bar leader, in addition to her practice advising on business disputes, investigations and risk management. She's a past president of the ABA, the ABA's House of Delegates and the State Bar of Georgia, as well as the former managing shareholder for Baker Donelson's Georgia offices.

Gov. Brian Kemp has appointed Rachel Little to the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents. Little is a senior corporate paralegal for the animal health division of global pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim. She replaces C. Dean Alford on the 19-member board, which oversees the state's public universities and colleges. Kemp asked Alford for his resignation in October after he was charged with theft and racketeering for allegedly invoicing the University of Georgia for work never performed.

Little also serves on the board for the Georgia Department of Driver Services and was vice chair for the state's Immigration Enforcement Review Board, which was dissolved in May. The Loganville resident is also on the citizens advisory board for Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. She is a former chair of the Gwinnett Republican Party.