The Author
John L. Watkins has practiced law in Atlanta, Georgia, for over 25 years. He has represented many businesses, large and small. John has been included on the list of Georgia Super Lawyers for several years, and in 2010 was one of the top 100 lawyers in Georgia in the Super Lawyers nomination, research and review process. John has been rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory for many years, its highest ranking. John is rated 10.0 by AVVO, its highest ranking. John graduated first in his class from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1982, where he was a member of the Georgia Law Review, the Order of the Coif, and received numerous academic awards.
John began practicing with Hansell & Post (now Jones, Day), which was one of the two largest law firms in Atlanta at the time. John then moved to Long, Aldridge & Norman (now McKenna Long & Aldridge), where he practiced for over 20 years. John was a partner for many years at McKenna Long, and served two stints on its Board of Directors.
In 2007, John left McKenna Long for the more entrepreneurial field of "small law," eventually becoming a shareholder of Chorey, Taylor & Feil, a respected small business law and litigation firm in Atlanta.
Most recently, in July 2010, John and two of his fellow shareholders left CTF to join the Atlanta office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. Barnes & Thornburg is an Am Law top 100 firm with about 540 attorneys, with offices in Atlanta, Indianapolis, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus, OH, Wilmington, DE, and other cities. John joined BT because of its breadth of practice areas and resources and value-oriented approach.
John is a frequent author on legal topics. He writes on legal topics on his blog, ezinearticles.com, which he is recognized as an expert contributor, and other publications, including the blog on this site. He is a frequent presenter at seminars, both for business people and lawyers.
Throughout the years, John has represented numerous companies, large, small and medium-sized. Presently, about half of John's practice involves representing international companies or their U.S. subsidiaries. John is very active in the international business community.
In explaining why he wrote the Guide, John said, "In representing companies of all sizes -- but particularly small and medium-sized companies -- there was one thread that kept running through their legal problems: If they had just consulted a good business attorney early in the process, the problem, dispute or lawsuit probably could have been avoided. Having seen companies suffer dire consequences from trying to go it alone, or from using an Internet form, or from trying to re-use a document they do not understand, it dawned on me that they may simply not know how to go about finding, evaluating, and hiring a business attorney."
"In searching the available literature, there seemed to be no publication out there that compiled the available resources for finding and evaluating attorneys. Further, even if a business person were to stumble upon one of the resources, he would still not really know how to use it or to put the information in context. Since there seemed to be a need, I decided to write the book. I hope it will be valuable to business people, and I think it will."
John lives in Atlanta with his wife Margaret. His other interests include being a lousy golfer, photography, computers and technology. John and Margaret, as long-time "pet parents," are also active in supporting no-kill animal shelters and humane societies. As part of this effort, John "helped" their cat Roscoe write a whimsical book about Roscoe's adventures as the greatest cat golfer on the feline golf tour. 10% of the profits of the book, A Golfer's Tail, are donated to no-kill shelters. Click here for more information about Roscoe's book.
John began practicing with Hansell & Post (now Jones, Day), which was one of the two largest law firms in Atlanta at the time. John then moved to Long, Aldridge & Norman (now McKenna Long & Aldridge), where he practiced for over 20 years. John was a partner for many years at McKenna Long, and served two stints on its Board of Directors.
In 2007, John left McKenna Long for the more entrepreneurial field of "small law," eventually becoming a shareholder of Chorey, Taylor & Feil, a respected small business law and litigation firm in Atlanta.
Most recently, in July 2010, John and two of his fellow shareholders left CTF to join the Atlanta office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. Barnes & Thornburg is an Am Law top 100 firm with about 540 attorneys, with offices in Atlanta, Indianapolis, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis, Columbus, OH, Wilmington, DE, and other cities. John joined BT because of its breadth of practice areas and resources and value-oriented approach.
John is a frequent author on legal topics. He writes on legal topics on his blog, ezinearticles.com, which he is recognized as an expert contributor, and other publications, including the blog on this site. He is a frequent presenter at seminars, both for business people and lawyers.
Throughout the years, John has represented numerous companies, large, small and medium-sized. Presently, about half of John's practice involves representing international companies or their U.S. subsidiaries. John is very active in the international business community.
In explaining why he wrote the Guide, John said, "In representing companies of all sizes -- but particularly small and medium-sized companies -- there was one thread that kept running through their legal problems: If they had just consulted a good business attorney early in the process, the problem, dispute or lawsuit probably could have been avoided. Having seen companies suffer dire consequences from trying to go it alone, or from using an Internet form, or from trying to re-use a document they do not understand, it dawned on me that they may simply not know how to go about finding, evaluating, and hiring a business attorney."
"In searching the available literature, there seemed to be no publication out there that compiled the available resources for finding and evaluating attorneys. Further, even if a business person were to stumble upon one of the resources, he would still not really know how to use it or to put the information in context. Since there seemed to be a need, I decided to write the book. I hope it will be valuable to business people, and I think it will."
John lives in Atlanta with his wife Margaret. His other interests include being a lousy golfer, photography, computers and technology. John and Margaret, as long-time "pet parents," are also active in supporting no-kill animal shelters and humane societies. As part of this effort, John "helped" their cat Roscoe write a whimsical book about Roscoe's adventures as the greatest cat golfer on the feline golf tour. 10% of the profits of the book, A Golfer's Tail, are donated to no-kill shelters. Click here for more information about Roscoe's book.
