It’s Personal

My commitment to catastrophic injury cases is rooted in lived experience. I grew up witnessing the lifelong effects of a severe traumatic brain injury on my grandfather and our family, and I have personally endured serious injuries and served as a caregiver. That perspective informs how I represent clients facing life-altering harm.

Why Catastrophic Injury Representation Is Personal to Me

This work is not abstract to me. It is personal, shaped by lived experience across three generations of my family.

A Family History of Traumatic Brain Injury

My maternal grandfather suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in his twenties, long before modern brain-injury rehabilitation existed. At the time, he was a newly married schoolteacher who had moved from rural Alabama to Tuscaloosa while working toward a degree at the University of Alabama. After the injury, he spent more than a year hospitalized.

He never fully recovered cognitively.

The injury permanently altered the course of his life. He could no longer teach or attend university. Instead, he performed manual labor at a veneer mill, raised a large garden, and lived with profound neurological and functional impairments for the rest of his life. He experienced lifelong incontinence, significant personality changes, and social marginalization. Although there were moments when his underlying intelligence was still visible, most people never saw it.

The injury affected not only him, but everyone around him.

The Long-Term Impact on Families

My grandmother became the head of the household in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, she ran a small one-room grocery store out of their mill-village home, took in boarders, and raised their children in poverty. They never owned a car. The injury reshaped their economic reality, family roles, and social standing for decades.

As a child, I grew up watching how a catastrophic brain injury reverberated through multiple generations—emotionally, financially, and socially. My grandfather was viewed as distant and eccentric throughout his life. He received little respect, little understanding, and no meaningful rehabilitation.

That history never left me.

Personal Experience With Serious Injury and Recovery

I have also experienced serious injuries myself, including back injuries and burn injuries that required surgery and rehabilitation. I was fortunate to achieve excellent outcomes and do not live with permanent impairment. Many people are not that fortunate.

Because of that experience, I understand pain, recovery, and uncertainty in a very real way—not theoretically.

I have also spent extended periods as a family caregiver, both away from home and after returning. I understand the emotional exhaustion, logistical strain, and quiet sacrifices that caregivers make while trying to hold families together.

How This Shapes My Work Today

Every time I am asked to represent someone with a catastrophic injury, I think of my grandfather—and of the families who must live with the consequences long after the case ends.

That perspective shapes how I evaluate cases, how I communicate with clients, and how seriously I take the long-term implications of injury on a person’s dignity, independence, and family life.

This is not just a job for me.
It is personal.

If you or a family member are seriously injury due to someone else’s carelessness, contact us by phoning 404-253-7862 or submitting our contact form.

Last updated January 19, 2026

Johnson & Ward, founded in 1949, is the first, premiere personal injury specialty law firm in Atlanta.

Ken Shigley is a senior counsel at Johnson & Ward. He is a former president of the State Bar of Georgia, earned three board certifications from the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and was lead author of eleven editions of Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation & Practice. He is a past chair of the motor vehicle collision section of the American Association for Justice, the first Georgia lawyer to earn three board certifications from the National Board of Trial Advocacy, a recipient of the State Bar of Georgia Tradition of Excellence award, honored in Best Lawyers in America®, Georgia Super Lawyers®, and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum®.