MEMBERS OF FIRM
J.E. Butler, Jr., (P.C.) (Member) born Atlanta, Georgia, March 25, 1951; admitted to bar, 1977, Georgia and Alabama. Education: University of Georgia (A.B.J., 1972; J.D., cum laude, 1977). Woodruff Merit Scholar. Blue Key. The Order of the Barristers. Member: National Moot Court Team; Moot Court Board. Best Oralist, Southern Moot Court Competition, 1976. Winner, Russell First-Year Moot Court Competition, 1976. Winner, Talmadge Second-Year Moot Court Competition, 1977. Member, Georgia Law Review, 1976-1977. Co-Author: "The Boundaries of Zealous Advocacy: Properly Representing Consumers Against Corporations and Their Discovery Tactics," 31 Tort & Insurance Law Journal 977, 1996; "The Bench as Battleground: The Discovery Process is Broke and Only Judges Can Fix It," 17 The Verdict II, 1992; "What's A Human Life Really Worth?" 7 Ga. State U.L. Rev. 439,1991. Author: "Hospital Liability for Physician Negligence in Georgia: A Realistic Approach," 37 Mercer Law Review 701, 1986. Co-Author: "Jones v. State Farm: Effectuating Legislative Intention," Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, 1981. Author: "Jones v. State Farm, The Insured's Perspective," Georgia State Bar Journal, August, 1982; "People As Evidence," The Verdict, April/May 1990. Member, State of Georgia Board of Natural Resources, 1998-2005 Chair, Environmental Protection Committee, 2000. Member, Georgia State Bar Disciplinary Review Panel, 1993-1996. Faculty Member, National Institute of Trial Advocacy, 1987-1988. Director, Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, 1992-1996. Member: Chattahoochee and American Bar Associations; State Bar of Georgia; Alabama State Bar; Columbus Trial Lawyers Association (President, 1986); Alabama Trial Lawyers Association; Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (President, 1988-1989; Vice-President, 1983-1986; Member, Amicus Curiae Committee, 1981-1983; Chairman, Special Jones Committee, 1982-1984; Chairman, Liability Insurance Committee, 1985-1986); The Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Practice Areas: Business and Commercial Torts; Personal Injury Law; Products Liability Law.Email: J.E. Butler, Jr., (P.C.)
Joel O. Wooten, Jr. (Member) born Jesup, Georgia, June 4, 1950; admitted to bar, 1975, Georgia. Education: University of Georgia (B.B.A., magna cum laude, 1972; J.D., 1975). Phi Kappa Phi; Omicron Delta Kappa; Phi Delta Phi; Blue Key. Member, Executive Committee, University of Georgia Moot Court Board, 1974-1975. Chairman, Russell Moot Court Competition, 1974-1975. Recipient, Tradition of Excellence Award, State Bar of Georgia, 2000. Listed: Georgia Trend's 100 Most Influential Georgians, 2005; James Magazine's Most Influential Georgians, 2005; Georgia Super Lawyers, 2007. Recipient, GreenLaw's Doremus Award for Excellence in Environmental Law, 2007. Member, Board of Regents, University System of Georgia, 1999-2006; Vice Chair, 2003-2004; Chair, 2004-2005. Columbus Lawyers Club, President, 1988-1989; Member, Executive Committee, 1984-1992. Board of Directors, Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest, 1992-1993. Member: State Bar of Georgia (Member, Executive Council, Younger Lawyers Section, 1980-1983; Chairman, 1990-1991 and Member, Executive Council, 1983-1998, General Practice and Trial Section; Chair, Judicial Evaluation Committee, 1999-2007); Chattahoochee, Federal and American (Chair, Constabars Committee, 1991-1992) Bar Associations; Columbus Younger Lawyers Club (President, 1983-1984); Columbus Trial Lawyers Association; Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (Vice President, 1994-1997); The Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Fellow: Roscoe Pound Foundation; Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. Practice Areas: Environmental Litigation; Class Actions; Personal Injury Law; Commercial Litigation; Medical Negligence Law.Email: Joel O. Wooten, Jr.
George W. Fryhofer III (Member) born Augusta, Georgia, May 29, 1959; admitted to bar, 1984, Georgia; 1995, Texas; 1996, Massachusetts. Education: Emory University (B.A., summa cum laude, 1980); University of Georgia (J.D., summa cum laude, 1983). Phi Beta Kappa; Order of the Coif. Robert Tyre Jones Scholar, St. Andrews University. Editor-in-Chief: Georgia Law Review, 1982-1983; Tort & Insurance Law Journal, 1995-1998. Editor, Georgia Bar Journal. Law Clerk to the Honorable John C. Godbold, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit, 1983-1984. Author: Note, "Offer of Judgment and Statutorily Authorized Attorney's Fees: A Reconciliation of the Scope and Purpose of Rule 68," 16 Georgia Law Review 482, 1982. Member: Atlanta (Member, ACYL and Litigation Sections) and American (Member, Tort and Insurance Practice Section; Council Member, 1998-2001 Term; Chair, Task Force on Plaintiff Lawyers, 1997-1998; Member, Long Range Planning Committee; Chair, Task Force on Model Code of Judicial Conduct Revisions) Bar Associations; State Bar of Georgia (Member, General Practice and Trial Section; Member, Formal Advisory Opinion Board, 1994-1997); The Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (Vice-President, 1990); Lawyers Club of Atlanta; American Inns of Court (Member, Bleckley Chapter). Practice Areas: Personal Injury; Products Liability; Professional Liability; Business Torts.Email: George W. Fryhofer III
Matthew E. Cook (Member) born Atlanta, Georgia, December 1, 1971; admitted to bar, 1999, Georgia. Education: Piedmont College (B.A., 1996); Mercer University Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1999). Member, Brainerd Curie Honor Society. Recipient: CALI Award for Excellence in Criminal Law, Statutory Analysis, Constitutional Law, Legal Writing II, and Advance Legal Research; Thomas Ryals Foundation and Mercer Law School Merit Scholarships. Member, Mercer Law Review, 1997-1999. Author, "U.S. v. Mitchell: The Fifth Amendment at Sentencing," 49 Mercer L. Rev. 865 (1998). Co-Author, "Trial Practice and Procedure," 51 Mercer L. Rev. 487 (1999), 52 Mercer Law Review 447, 2000, 53 Mercer L. Rev. 475 (2001), 54 Mercer L. Rev. 545 (2002). Member: State Bar of Georgia; American Bar Association; The Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Georgia Trial Lawyers Association; Columbus Younger Lawyers Club.Email: Matthew E. Cook
Leigh Martin May (Member) born Albany, Georgia, February 21, 1971; admitted to bar, 1999, Georgia. Education: Georgia Institute of Technology (B.S., with honors, 1993); University of Georgia (J.D., magna cum laude, 1998). Order of the Coif. Editor-in-Chief, Georgia Law Review, 1997-1998. Member: Moot Court Team, 1996-1998. Law Clerk to the Honorable Dudley H. Bowen, Jr., Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Georgia. Author: "Deregulatory Takings: Stranded Investment in a Deregulated Electric Utility Industry," 31 Georgia Law Review 1183, 1997. Co-Author: Recent Developments in Automobile Law, 36 Torts and Insurance Law 225, 2001. Author: "An Offensive Strategy for Defending Against Doubert," Verdict, Spring, 2005. Barrister, Joseph Henry Lumpkin Inn of Court, 2005. Member: State Bar of Georgia (Member, Younger Lawyers Division; Director and Executive Committee, 2001-2004); American Bar Association (Member, Young Lawyers Division; Executive Council, District 12 Representative for Georgia and Alabama, 2002-2003); American Trial Lawyers Association; Georgia Trial Lawyers Association; Lawyers Club of Atlanta; Red Clay Democrats (Founder and Board Member, 2001-2005).Email: Leigh Martin May
ASSOCIATES
Kate Sievert Cook (Associate) born K.I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan, May 10, 1977; admitted to bar, 2002, Georgia. Education: University of the South (B.A., magna cum laude, 1998); Mercer University Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 2002). Brainerd Currie Honor Society. Woodruff Scholar, Mercer University. Recipient, CALI Award for Legal Excellence in Civil Lawsuits, Property, Contracts, Commercial Papers and Legal Writing II. Member, 2000-2002 and Eleventh Circuit Survey Editor, 2001-2002, Mercer Law Review. Law Clerk, Hon. Clay D. Land, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia, Columbus Division, 2002-2004. Author: "Albany Urology Clinic, PC v. Cleveland: Why You Should Always Ask Your Urologist If He is a Cocaine Addict," 52 Mercer L. Rev. 1159, 2001. Pupil, William A. Bootle American Inn of Court, 2001-2002. Member: Columbus and American Bar Associations; State Bar of Georgia; Georgia Trial Lawyers Association; State Bar of Georgia Younger Lawyers; Georgia Association of Women Lawyers (Secretary, Columbus Chapter, 2004-2005); The Association of Trial Lawyers of America.Email: Kate Sievert Cook
Alan J. Hamilton (Associate) born Seneca, South Carolina, May 28, 1979; admitted to bar, 2004, Georgia. Education: Auburn University (B.S., Accounting, 2001); University of Georgia School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2004). Phi Kappa Phi; Member: Order of the Coif; Order of Barristers; Moot Court Board, 2002-2004. Pupil, Joseph Henry Lumpkin Inn of Court. Recipient: Region Champion and Best Brief; The National Moot Court Competition, 2004; Best Oralist, Talmadge Moot Court Competition, 2002; National Finalist and Best Brief, Prince Memorial Evidence Competition, Brooklyn, New York, 2003; University of Georgia Law School Alumni Scholarship, 2001-2004. Law Clerk to the Honorable William M. Acker, Jr., United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, 2004-2005. Member: State Bar of Georgia (Member, Young Lawyers' Division); American Bar Association; American Association for Justice; City of Atlanta Bar Association; Georgia Trial Lawyers of Association.Email: Alan J. Hamilton
Brandon L. Peak (Associate) born Gastonia, North Carolina, May 26, 1976; admitted to bar, 2004, Georgia. Education: London School of Economics and Political Science; The Citadel (B.S., summa cum laude, 2001); Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University (J.D., magna cum laude, 2004). Phi Kappa Phi; Beta Gamma Sigma; Brainerd Currie Honor Society. Recipient: George Waldo Woodruff Award of Excellence given annually to the first honor graduate; Walker P. Johnson Jr. Memorial Award recognizing excellence in ethics and professionalism; Faculty Award for Most Outstanding Senior; Faculty Award for Outstanding Legal Writing; Dean R. Lawrence Dessem Merit Scholarship. Chief Justice, Mercer Law School Honor Council. Honor Court Member; Battalion Commander. Member, Intrastate Moot Court Team. Finalist, Hugh Lawson III Memorial First Year Moot Court Competition. Articles Editor, Mercer Law Review. Law Clerk, Honorable Robert L. Vining, Jr. Senior Judge, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, 2004-2005. Author: "EEOC v. Waffle House, Inc.: Employers Beware - The EEOC is now the 'Master of its Own Case'," 54 MERCER L. REV. 1235 (2003). Member: American Bar Association; State Bar of Georgia; Georgia Trial Lawyers Association; The Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Practice Areas: Labor and Employment.
John C. Morrison, III (Associate) born New Orleans, Louisiana, October 15, 1981; admitted to bar, 2006, Georgia. Education: Mercer University (B.A., magna cum laude, 2003; J.D., magna cum laude, 2006). Phi Kappa Phi; Brainerd Currie Honor Society. Recipient: Jesse Mercer Scholarship; CALI Award for Legal Excellence in Income Tax, Jurisprudence, Law of Lawyering, Introduction to Legal Sutherland Rich Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition, Houston, Texas, 2006. Member, Mercer Law Review. Member: State Bar of Georgia; Columbus Bar Association. (Also at Atlanta Office).Email: John C. Morrison, III