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See You In Court is a podcast series that seeks to educate the public about the Georgia Civil Justice System and is a production of the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation. The Georgia Civil Justice Foundation (GCJF) is a nonpartisan resource for anyone seeking to understand, preserve, or restore the basic functions of civil justice. GCJF supports public education about the civil justice system and how to gain access to the civil justice system when it is needed. Our goal is to reach all Georgians with a message that presents civil justice as society’s means of assuring fair play for everyone.
Episodes
Friday Feb 25, 2022
Friday Feb 25, 2022
Today on the podcast, Robin and Lester interview writer and Senior Editor of POLITICO, Peter Canellos. We are so excited to discuss Peter’s new book, The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America’s Judicial Hero.
Peter Canellos:
Peter S. Canellos is managing editor for enterprise at POLITICO, overseeing the site’s magazine, investigative journalism, and major projects. He has also been POLITICO’s executive editor, overseeing the newsroom during the 2016 presidential coverage, and the editorial page editor of The Boston Globe.
A native of Boston, Peter is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Law School. He spent most of his career at the Globe, where at various points he oversaw the paper’s local news coverage and Washington, D.C., bureau. As the Globe’s editorial page editor, he authored numerous editorials urging Bostonians to overcome their parochial divisions and embrace their status as a world-class city.
He also edited the Globe’s book, “Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy,” which was a top-10 New York Times bestseller in 2009. The book also set the stage for much of the analysis of Kennedy’s career following his death from cancer and supplied most of the anecdotes for President Barack Obama’s eulogy of Kennedy.
For the past 12 years, Peter has worked with the International Women’s Media Foundation overseeing the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, given to a woman journalist from around the world to study human rights at MIT and intern at the Globe and New York Times. He has also traveled overseas on human rights trips with the US Holocaust Museum, International Reporting Project, and Robert Bosch Foundation, among other groups.
Peter considers the many young journalists he’s hired and mentored over the years to be his greatest accomplishment. As an editor, he has overseen two Pulitzer Prize-winning projects along with five others that were Pulitzer finalists, among many other awards. As a writer, he was a recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors award in 2011 for excellence in editorial writing.
Links:
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Monday Feb 14, 2022
Today we are discussing The Georgia Court of Appeals and appellate law. To help us understand what that is and what that means, we are joined by the Presiding Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Hon. Anne Elizabeth Barnes.
Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes:
Presiding Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes was elected in 1998 to the Georgia Court of Appeals in a three-way race without a runoff. She was the first woman to be elected in a state-wide judicial race without having been first appointed to the bench. Judge Barnes was re-elected to a second term in 2004, elected to a third term in 2010, receiving more votes than any other candidate in the State of Georgia, then again re-elected in 2016. Currently, she is running for re-election in 2022.
A native Georgian, Judge Barnes grew up in Chamblee and attended DeKalb County public schools. She graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State University in 1979. Judge Barnes has earned three law degrees: a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia, a Master of Laws in the Judicial Process from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Laws in Judicial Studies from Duke University.
Judge Barnes was elected by her fellow judges as the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals from 2006 to 2008. She has also served on many committees and commissions, including the Judicial Council of Georgia's Standing Committee on Policy, the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, the Supreme Court Commission on Interpreters, the Domestic Violence Committee of the Judicial Council of Georgia, and the Georgia Commission on Child Support. Judge Barnes is a Trustee of the Georgia Legal History Foundation, and served as a director on the Boards of Georgia Court Appointed Special Advocates (GACASA), the Truancy Intervention Project, and the National Courts and Science Institute. She also served on the Judicial Education Program Advisory Board of the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies.
Presiding Judge Barnes is a 2006 graduate of Leadership Atlanta. She is a member of the American, Atlanta, DeKalb, and Gate City Bar Associations, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, and the Old Warhorse Lawyers Club. She is a Master of the Bleckley Inn of Court and a member and former District 5 Director of the National Association of Women Judges. Judge Barnes is a Fellow of both the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia and the American Bar Association.
In 2012, Judge Barnes received the Romae Turner Powell Judicial Service Award from the Atlanta Bar Association Judicial Section, which she formerly chaired. Judge Barnes has been recognized for her service by the DeKalb Bar Association, the Women in the Profession Committee of the Atlanta Bar Association, the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia, and Justice Served. She has been twice recognized by the Barbados Association of Atlanta, receiving their Trident and Community Service Awards.
Judge Barnes and her husband, Dr. Thomas I. Banks, a Distinguished Professor of Physics at Rutgers University, live in Virginia Highlands with their dog, Tiger.
Links:
Court of Appeals of the State of GA
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Today we are delighted to have Chris Joyner on the podcast. He is a journalist with the Atlanta Journal Constitution and is the author of The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson and we are looking forward to diving into the book and a sordid period of Georgia history with Chris today on the podcast.
Chris Joyner:
Chris Joyner is an investigative reporter with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with more than two decades of experience in journalism, ranging from community newspapers to national and international news and wire services. He reported from the scene of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. As an investigative reporter, he focuses on uncovering hidden communities and has written about street gangs and life inside a supermax prison, the hidden world of government lobbying, and a white-collar criminal network built around a drug testing lab. He lives in Atlanta.
Links:
The Three Death Sentences of Clarence Henderson
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Monday Nov 01, 2021
Monday Nov 01, 2021
Today we share Robin and Lester’s CLE presentation, “Professionalism from a Trial Lawyer’s Perspective” for the Atlanta Bar Association. The panel is moderated by former podcast guest Robert Wellon (find a link to his interview below).
Robin Frazer Clark:
Robin Frazer Clark is the owner and founder of the law firm of Robin Frazer Clark, P.C. Ms. Clark has practiced law for thirty years in Atlanta, Georgia, all as a trial lawyer in personal injury cases. Prior to this firm she was a partner in Clark Goldner, P.C. from 2004-2006 and a partner in Jewett and Clark, LLC from 1997-2004. Ms. Clark devotes one-hundred percent of her practice exclusively to representing everyday Americans who have been injured by the carelessness of others. This includes personal injury and employment matters, automobile wrecks, tractor-trailer wrecks, premises safety, elevator and escalator cases, products safety (including defective automobile manufacture), medical malpractice and sexual harassment cases.
Ms. Clark was recently invited and inducted into the International Society of Barristers. She is a Past President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) and previously served as President-Elect, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Parliamentarian and Education Committee Co-Chair of GTLA. She served on the Editorial Board of The Verdict and was elected to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Ms. Clark was also on the Board of Governors for the State Bar of Georgia for Atlanta Circuit Post No. 36. She is a Past President of the State Bar of Georgia and a member of the Atlanta Bar Association, in which she is a Past Chair of the Litigation Section. She is a Member of the General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar of Georgia. She is also a member of the American Association for Justice (formerly, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) and a member of the Executive Committee of The Lawyers Club of Atlanta. Ms. Clark is a Fellow of The Lawyers Foundation of Georgia.
Lester Tate, III:
Lester Tate is a trial lawyer who served as the 48th President of the State Bar of Georgia. Since 1996, he has practiced as a shareholder in Akin & Tate, P.C., Georgia’s oldest continuing law firm. He has spent his entire professional career as a courtroom lawyer, having tried over 100 civil and criminal cases to verdict. While devoting most of his time to serious personal injury and wrongful death cases, where he has won a number of million and multimillion dollar verdicts and settlements, his practice is unusually broad and includes such diverse matters as state and federal criminal cases, complex commercial disputes, and worker’s compensation cases. Because of his extensive courtroom experience, Lester was inducted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), one of the nation’s most prestigious trial lawyer organizations, with the rank of “Advocate”. He is also a Fellow in Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society comprised of less than 1% of American lawyers. He currently serves as a Member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates and as President of the Georgia Chapter of ABOTA, and Treasurer of ABOTA’s Southeastern Chapter.
Lester has also appeared over 30 times in Georgia’s state and federal appellate courts. He is a Champion Member of the Georgia Trial Lawyer’s Association (GTLA) and a Member of the GTLA’s Political Action Committee Board of Directors, as well as the American Justice Association.
Active in community and public affairs, Lester serves on the board of the Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia and the Board of Advisors for Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Media, and Communications. He is also a graduate of Leadership Bartow’s 2012 class. Lester’s pro bono work includes having represented Advocates for Children as a volunteer legal counsel for over twenty years.
Links:
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Monday Oct 25, 2021
Monday Oct 25, 2021
Today we are talking about some very special work being done with the Executive Director of The Georgia Justice Project, Doug Ammar.
Douglas B. Ammar:
Douglas B. Ammar has been an active presence at Georgia Justice Project (GJP) since its beginning in 1986. Starting as a volunteer, then joining as a staff attorney in 1990, Doug has led GJP as Executive Director since 1995.
GJP has sought to be advocates for our clients not only by providing holistic criminal defense and social services; but also seeking systemic change in Georgia law that will reduce the number of people under correctional control and reduce barriers to reentry. During his time as Executive Director, GJP has helped change 21 laws in Georgia that have worked to reduce barriers to reentry for people impacted by the criminal justice system. GJP has continued to grow and expand its capacity to serve its clients with support from local foundations and national funders who have acknowledged our work. In 2020, GJP assisted over 6,000 Georgians with criminal justice issues and received a $5 million capacity from the Kendeda Fund; a national funder based in Atlanta.
Originally from Charleston, West Virginia, Doug earned a bachelor’s degree in History from Davidson College in 1984, and then a law degree from Washington and Lee University in 1989. Doug has received numerous awards for his leading voice in criminal justice reform and reentry, including but not limited to: Nonprofit Times 2019 Power & Influence Top 50; Urban League of Greater Atlanta’s Man of Empowerment & Distinction; Davidson’s College’s 2016 Game Changers, Emory University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award, Milner S. Ball Working In the Public Interest Lifetime Achievement Award; Georgia Center for Nonprofits’ Evelyn G. Ullman Innovative Leadership Award; Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Indigent Defense Award; Davidson College’s John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service; and Georgia Indigent Defense Council’s Commitment to Excellence Award. In addition to these recognitions, Doug is also an Omicron Delta Kappa Alumni inductee at Washington and Lee University and an Annie E. Casey Foundation fellow.
Links:
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Today we are talking about premises liability cases with the person who wrote the book on Premises Liability as well as some cutting-edge litigation against Snapchat with our guest today, accomplished trial lawyer, Mike Neff.
Michael Neff:
Mike Neff founded Neff Injury Law in April 1996. After a successful solo career, Mike added Dwayne Adams, Susan Cremer and Shane Peagler to the firm. Mike has been lead counsel in trials where the jury returned verdicts totaling over $100 million.
In 2011, 2012, and 2013, Mike was lead counsel in three record-setting verdicts in Georgia, according to CaseMetrix: a $9 million verdict in a negligent security and rape case; a $2.79 million verdict in a grocery store fall case where the client developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome; and a $35 million verdict against the amusement park Six Flags in a premises liability case.
In 2017, Mike was lead counsel in two trials that resulted in a total of $54 million in verdicts against an international car rental company, its agents, and an employee who stole a car and catastrophically injured two women.
Neff Injury Law currently has cases pending in Georgia, Arizona, and California involving wrongful death, sexual assault, premises liability, trucking and bus wrecks, and products liability.
Mike is the author of Premises Liability: A Guide to Success and Premises Liability: A Guide Through Trial, both published by Trial Guides. He is active in the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and is member of the Executive Committee for AAJ’s Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group and AAJ’s Inadequate Security Litigation Group. In 2014, Mike was elected Chair of AAJ’s Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Litigation Group. He is recognized as an Advocate by the National College of Advocacy and has served on the Executive Committee of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
Mike was lucky to marry Kirsten Neff. “Coincidentally” his career blossomed shortly thereafter. Kirsten is an industrial engineer who is a retired Navy Commander. During her Navy tenure, Kirsten was a Seabee. She oversaw construction and property maintenance. Since leaving the Navy, she continues to work in managing commercial real estate with GSA. In addition to being a great wife and mother, she has been a valuable consultant on many cases.
Mike is a son, brother, husband and father. During college, he was a walk-on for the GWU basketball team. He likes to joke that his college coach, John Kuester (who later coached in the NBA), coached Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and him.
Links:
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Monday Aug 30, 2021
Monday Aug 30, 2021
Today we are discussing The General Counsel’s Office of the State Bar of Georgia. To help us understand it, we are thrilled to have with us the General Counsel of the State Bar herself, Paula Frederick.
Paula Frederick:
Paula Frederick is General Counsel for the State Bar of Georgia, a unified bar organization with over 50,000 members. As General Counsel, Ms. Frederick is responsible for interpreting the ethics rules for lawyers, prosecuting lawyer discipline cases, and providing legal advice to the officers and directors of the organization. She has served in the Office of the General Counsel for 33 years and was Deputy General Counsel for Discipline before becoming General Counsel in 2009.
Ms. Frederick is a 1982 graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Law and a 1979 graduate of Duke University. Prior to joining the Office of the General Counsel, she spent six years as a staff attorney with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society handling civil legal matters for low-income people.
Ms. Frederick is a Past President of both the Atlanta Bar Association and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys. She is also an active member of the American Bar Association, where she serves as State Delegate for Georgia. She sits on the ABA Standing Committee on Bar Activities and Services and recently chaired the Standing Committee on Professional Regulation. In the past she served on the Commission on the Future of Legal Services, chaired the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and the ABA Diversity Center, and served as a member of the Board of Governors.
Links:
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Monday Aug 02, 2021
Monday Aug 02, 2021
Today on See You in Court, we are talking about products liability and, more specifically, about a defect in the Chevy Cobalt uncovered by our guest, Lance Cooper.
Lance Cooper:
Lance Cooper is the founding partner of The Cooper Firm and represents clients in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases. He specializes in product liability cases involving automobile design and manufacturing defects. Lance has been lead counsel for plaintiffs in a large number of jury trials including trials against General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Kia, Chrysler, Honda, as well as other motor vehicle manufacturers and large corporations.
His 2011 wrongful death case against General Motors (Melton v. GM, 2011-A-2652) exposed the cover-up of faulty ignition switches resulting in millions of recalled vehicles.
Lance received his law degree from Emory University in 1989 where he was a G. Joseph Tauro Scholar and Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1985.
Lance served as the 2002-2003 President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and is a past President of the Cobb County Trial Lawyers Association. He is also a member of the American Association of Justice and was honored to receive the Steven J. Sharpe Public Service Award in 2014. Lance was also a 2014 nominee for the Public Justice Trial Lawyer of the Year award.
In addition to his law practice, Lance is actively engaged in numerous community and charitable activities. He and his wife, Sonja, are the proud parents of five children, Rachel, Rebekah, Michelle, Asa, and Aaron.
Links:
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Today on See You in Court, we are honored to be joined by the Honorable Stephen Louis A. Dillard, presiding 73rd Judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.
Honorable Stephen Louis A. Dillard:
Presiding Judge Stephen Louis A. Dillard was appointed as the 73rd judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia on November 1, 2010, by Governor Sonny Perdue. Prior to his appointment, Judge Dillard was in private practice with James, Bates, Pope & Spivey in Macon, serving as chairman of the firm's appellate practice group. Judge Dillard was elected and reelected by his fellow Georgians in 2012 and 2018. On July 1, 2017, Judge Dillard was sworn in as the 30th Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia for a two-year term that ended on June 30, 2019. He currently serves as the presiding judge of the Court’s Fourth Division.
Judge Dillard was born in Nashville, Tennessee on November 13, 1969. He attended and graduated from Hillwood High School in Nashville, Tennessee; Samford University (B.A. 1992); and the Mississippi College School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1996). In college, Judge Dillard was a member of The Sigma Chi Fraternity and Omicron Delta Kappa. He was also given the Evelyn Meadows Historical Essay Award, as well as the William McMillian Rogers Colonial Dames Overall Essay Award for "The Tempting of America to be America: Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers." During law school, Judge Dillard was a member of the Moot Court Board and received the Judge Robert G. Gillespie Outstanding Achievement in Appellate Advocacy Award, as well as the American Jurisprudence Award in Appellate Advocacy. He also reactivated the Mississippi College Chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, serving as its president for three years.
After graduating from law school, Judge Dillard joined the Macon law firm of Stone & Baxter, where he practiced from 1996 until 2001. In September 2001, he left private practice for a two-year period to serve as a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit for Judge Daniel A. Manion (who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986). In September 2003, Judge Dillard joined James Bates as of counsel, specializing in appellate practice and complex litigation. While in practice, he received an AV® Preeminent™ Peer-Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and was named by Super Lawyers as one of Georgia's "rising stars."
Links:
Court of Appeals of the State of GA
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org
Monday May 03, 2021
Monday May 03, 2021
Today on See You in Court, we are excited to be joined by Frank Burns of J. Franklin Burns, P.C. On the show, Frank shares his expertise on worker’s compensation law, how the worker’s comp system works, as well as some common misconceptions about the law.
Frank Burns:
Frank Burns, Esq. is the founder of J. Franklin Burns, P.C. and a native of Gainesville, Georgia. He is a graduate of the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1982. He earned his J. D. at Mercer University School of Law in 1987. He began his legal career at Gorby & Reeves, an insurance defense law firm where he represented employers and insurance companies in Workers' Compensation matters across the State of Georgia.
In 2002, he opened his law practice, J. Franklin Burns, P.C., devoting his practice exclusively to the representation of injured workers and personal injury victims. He has served on the State Board of Workers' Advisory Council. and on the Legislative Committee of the Advisory Council. The Legislative Committee represents all stakeholders in the workers' compensation system and is charged with crafting workers' compensation laws for the State of Georgia.
In 2010, Mr. Burns was nominated and selected as a member to the Southern Trial Lawyers Association. He was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1987 and has been practicing workers’ compensation law ever since.
Links:
https://www.gatriallawyers.net/
To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org