The “laying on of hands” can resonate powerfully. In my background, it has spiritual and theological implications as a ritual of blessing or of healing. Can this and other senses beyond sight and hearing also be part of legitimate trial advocacy in conveying truth to jurors? The Georgia Court of Appeals recently said yes in…
Continue reading ›Ken Shigley of Atlanta, who was president of the State Bar of Georgia in 2011-12, is now chair of the largest practice area section in the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the national organization of plaintiffs’ trial attorneys. Shigley took the helm of the Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway & Premises Liability Section of AAJ and…
Continue reading ›The families of the Georgia Southern nursing students killed or injured this week when a tractor trailer ran over them on I-16 bear a huge burden of pain and grief. As a parent, I cannot imagine anything worse than the sudden death of a child who has had you wrapped around her finger from the…
Continue reading ›Injuries to children are going to happen. In fact, according to the CDC, injury treatment is the leading cause of medical spending for children equaling about $11.5 billion in the United States. A serious injury to a minor child touches the heart more than a comparable injury to an adult. Because young children lack the…
Continue reading ›As we ramp up capacity to handle more and larger cases of wrongful death and catastropic personal injury, and prepare to move into new office space in the Buckhead area of Atlanta later in the summer, I am pleased to welcome two new staff members: —————————- Ken Shigley is past president of the State Bar…
Continue reading ›At the State Bar of Georgia 2013 annual meeting last week at Hilton Head Island, SC, I was presented a resolution commemorating 14 years on the Board of Governors and 6 years on the Executive Committee, which included one year each as secretary (2008-09), treasurer (2009-10), president-elect (2010-11), president (2011-12) and immediate past president (2012-13).…
Continue reading ›Ken Shigley has been named a trustee of the Institute for Continuing Judicial Education in Georgia for 2013-14. The ICJE is a resource consortium of the Georgia Judicial Branch, the State Bar of Georgia, and the ABA accredited law schools of the State (Emory, Georgia State, Mercer, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, and the University…
Continue reading ›A few days ago, I wrote about a Georgia Supreme Court decision that left a lot of uncertainty about which legal malpractice claims could be assigned to people or companies other than clients. Most states do not allow assignment of legal malpractice claims to others for substantial public policy reasons related to protection of the…
Continue reading ›Many prospective clients in serious personal injury and wrongful death claims ask questions about legal fees and litigation expenses in handling their cases. As an Atlanta personal injury trial attorney handling serious injury and death cases across Georgia, and as an individual who remembers very well what it is like to be flat broke and…
Continue reading ›This week the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that a voluntary Review Panel reprimand is insufficient discipline for a lawyer who violated client confidentiality in responding to an ex-client’s derogatory comments in a consumer forum website. See In the Matter of Margaret Skinner, Georgia Supreme Court Docket No. S13Y0105. In the decade since I began blogging…
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