L-R: Andrew Bagley, Dan McGrew, Heather Miller and Spencer Bomar. Courtesy photo

Dan McGrew has left medical malpractice defense firm Weathington McGrew with his team to launch a new six-lawyer firm, McGrew, Miller, Bomar & Bagley. The new firm primarily handles medical malpractice defense along with a mix of general civil liability litigation.

Heather Miller, Spencer Bomar and Andrew Bagley are the other name partners in the firm, which launched Dec. 9. The partners bring two associates and three staff with them from Weathington McGrew, which reverted back to its original name, The Weathington Firm.

Sam Britt and Colleen Callaghan are the associates. The staff are nurse consultant Melanie Smith; paralegal Lora Rapplean; and administrative assistant Nadine Kiah.

McGrew said the team ran into client conflicts at Weathington McGrew, and that they see room in the Atlanta legal market for a new litigation defense firm, especially with some recent consolidations of competitor firms and retirements of some of the deans of the med-mal bar.

"There seems to be plenty of this work to go around right now," McGrew said.

The four name partners in McGrew Miller and their staff members have worked together for many years. The group, led by McGrew, left Carlock, Copeland & Stair in 2016 to join Paul Weathington's firm, forming Weathington McGrew.

(In August Carlock Copeland became Copeland, Stair, Kingma & Lovell after Tom Carlock, who co-founded Carlock Copeland almost 50 years ago, joined another defense litigation firm, Huff Powell & Bailey.)

McGrew Miller's two largest clients are Georgia medical insurer MagMutual and The Doctors Company, a national insurer of doctors headquartered in Napa, California, McGrew said. The firm also represents Six Flags Over Georgia, Uber Technologies, Loomis Armored US, Costco Wholesale Corp., and several shopping malls in premises liability and other matters.

"Paul has been very accommodating and gracious in this departure. We're still very good friends and always will be," McGrew said of his former law partner. "He's got a bunch of really fine lawyers at his firm and they will do well."

McGrew Miller has moved into new digs in the historic Hurt Building downtown, located at 50 Hurt Plaza. The Weathington Firm, which now has 15 lawyers, is maintaining its residence in the 191 Building, which is a few blocks away at 191 Peachtree St.

Weathington broke away from trial preparation on Tuesday to email the following: "We had a great three-year run and enjoyed many successes. Dan and I were great friends when we started and remain so. Dan and his team have an excellent book of business and should do very well. Our firm will return to its roots of medical malpractice defense for some of the very best doctors, hospitals and insurers. We wish them well."

Until decamping for Weathington McGrew, McGrew had spent his entire 32-year legal career at Carlock Copeland, which grew into one of Atlanta's largest defense litigation firms, currently with 74 lawyers, according to the Copeland Stair website.

Miller and Bomar, both in their mid-40s, have worked with McGrew for about 15 years and were partners at Weathington McGrew. Bagley, a senior associate at Weathington McGrew, has worked with the team for seven years, since graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law.

"This is a good time for an aggressive new firm to get going," McGrew said. "Heather and Spencer are now at a point where they have great experience and are great trial lawyers, and Andrew is a talented young lawyer."