Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein has relocated its Atlanta office to larger space to accommodate its growth since entering the market four years ago.

The Charlotte-based firm has grown the Atlanta office to 15 lawyers, plus two lobbyists and staff, since launching in the city in 2016 with four lawyers. It is the firm's first and, so far, only office outside of the Carolinas and Washington, D.C.

The Parker Poe lawyers in Atlanta moved into their new home on Jan. 27.  Ellen Smith, the Atlanta relationship partner for the 230-lawyer firm, said the new digs can accommodate 28 lawyers. Parker Poe's goal, she said, is to build the Atlanta location into a full-service office, and she added that the firm has expansion options in the lease. 

Parker Poe has taken almost a full floor of space—19,000 square feet—at 1075 Peachtree St., in the heart of Midtown, under an eight-year lease. Previously, the firm had sublet about 12,000 square feet at 1180 Peachtree St., right down the block.

Smith said Parker Poe is most interested in adding banking and finance as well as a corporate practice to the office, which currently has litigation, real estate and government affairs practitioners. A real estate lawyer herself, Smith joined in 2018 from Holt Ney Zatcoff & Wasserman.

Asked to describe the firm's culture, Smith immediately replied, "family."

"I was with Holt Ney for 19 years, and they were my law firm family. For someone to entice me away, they had to have a similar or better feel," Smith said. 

She added that she's working on deals with lawyers in all of Parker Poe's eight offices. "It's a lot of fun. If you're working with people, you ought to enjoy them." 

Parker Poe's Atlanta office started out with a team of intellectual property litigators focused on pharmaceutical and life sciences matters. 

Last March, it added a five-lawyer eminent domain law group led by Christian Torgrimson and Charles Pursley, plus real estate partner Bob Stubbs, from Pursley Friese Torgrimson when the real estate law boutique disbanded

That was after Parker Poe landed two veteran Atlanta lobbyists, Amy Odom from Dentons and Chuck McMullen from Greenberg Traurig, two years ago. Odom and McMullen started a Georgia government relations shop for Parker Poe Consulting, a separate entity from the law firm.

Most recently Parker Poe has added two commercial litigation attorneys. David Pardue joined as a partner from Owen, Gleaton, Egan, Jones & Sweeney in November and Josh Myles joined two weeks ago as a senior associate from Atheria Law.

One of the Atlanta office's real estate lawyers, Stubbs negotiated the lease for the firm. 

Parker Poe's real estate broker was Newmark Knight Frank, and CBRE represented the landlord. Hendrick designed the space, and Holder Construction handled the buildout.