Living and Practicing Law in Atlanta

Wondering what life is like for your colleagues in Atlanta? We talked to several practicing attorneys in Atlanta, and, in general, it's pretty good. Find out the many advantages and the few disadvantages about practicing in the largest metropolis in the Southeastern United States.

Atlanta is not what you think it is. That is - if you are thinking of "The South" that many people who live in other parts of the U.S. imagine.

In the real Atlanta, business is booming, minds are open, and most people who live here are from somewhere else.

But do you have to be a native to get hired and admired in the legal profession in this town? No, say the insiders we talked to - most of whom were originally outsiders. While not the "place to be" to practice one specific type of law (Houston - oil, Hartford - insurance), Atlanta could be the place to practice practically any type of law.

Practicing here.

"Civility." "Congeniality." "Reputation." These are the three words that kept coming up again and again in our conversations with attorneys practicing in Atlanta.

Compared to larger cities like New York or Los Angeles, Atlanta's legal community is "smaller and tighter," says Joe Iarocci, General Counsel for CARE, (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc.), one of the largest nonprofits in the world. Your reputation as a lawyer is more important here, Iarocci says, because you work with many of the same opposing counsel and judges again and again.

Iarocci was practicing antitrust law with a firm in New York, living there with his wife and small children, and wanted to improve his quality of life. His wife is from Atlanta, so the family relocated south. Iarocci joined a small Atlanta firm as a partner, then moved to his current position with CARE in 1998.

Now Iarocci is the head of a three-lawyer team at CARE, which has 12,000 employees and $50 million in revenues, serving 45 million people worldwide in its mission to alleviate poverty.

Iarocci works with government contracts, government relations, and personnel issues. He travels a lot, sometimes helping out CARE staffers overseas. He recently won a case in Kosovo, defending a CARE staff member against false charges, and then fishing the staffer out of jail and the country. "I have a great, great job," he says.

"The congeniality of the opposing counsel" is what stands out about Atlanta for attorney Douglas McNabb, who heads a Houston-based firm working for clients charged with white-collar federal crimes, such as securities fraud.

Having worked on cases in 40 states and 80 different cities, McNabb says that some US attorney offices are "less professional" than others. In the cases he has worked on in Atlanta, however, the federal prosecutors have been "tough but fair."

"Rambo lawyering is looked down on in Atlanta," says McNabb. Sometimes, in other parts of the country, McNabb encounters prosecutors who seem to take cases personally, and come out "with guns blazing," he says. He has seen this not just in the Northeast, but also in the Northwest, and the West.

Prosecutors in Atlanta are no slouches, McNabb says, but they do not refuse to take a meeting with defense counsel, or ignore your calls, for example.

This legal civility is not necessarily because Atlanta is in the South.

"People are extraordinarily accepting" in Atlanta says Harry Harkins, Jr., who has been practicing law for 28 years, 12 of which were spent in Atlanta. He still maintains an office in Durham, N.C., where law practice is "tougher than in Georgia."

"Not that Georgia is not tough, but North Carolina is a particularly strict state," Harkins says.

Harkins has a solo practice handling appeals for professionals facing disciplinary hearings - mostly for attorneys, but also for physicians and CPAs. He is also expanding his practice to work on wills and estate planning in the gay community.

Here's where "Reputation" comes in: Most of Harkins's business comes from word-of-mouth referrals, he says, as does attorney David Davenport's.

Davenport works on both sides of the civil litigation front with the firm Lamar, Archer & Cofrin. Most of his referred clients come from other lawyers, and his firm does the same for other attorneys with whom they have good relationships. Davenport does not, for example, do domestic cases, so he refers those cases on to trusted local colleagues.

The civility in Atlanta's legal atmosphere not only makes your work day more enjoyable, but can be an essential part of bringing in business as well.

Still, Davenport agrees, you definitely do not have to be a native to find success. Atlanta is a "boom town," he says; you won't face any roadblocks for not being a native son or daughter.

The congenial atmosphere covers community service as well, with many of the large firms in town giving a lot of support to pro bono work, says Susan McAvoy, Director of the Office of Career Services at the Emory University School of Law.

Company town.

CARE is not the only big player in Atlanta. The Carter Center and the American Cancer Society are other large national and international nonprofits based here. The federal government has many offices here, too. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based in Atlanta, and the EPA, IRS, and the EEOC all have regional offices here.

As the state capitol, Atlanta also has the state legislature, and all state agencies.

According to a March 22 Associated Press report, 16 Fortune 500 companies are based in Atlanta. These include: Home Depot, UPS, BellSouth, Coca-Cola, Georgia Pacific, Delta Airlines and SunTrust bank. Plus, CNN broadcasts from downtown, and has its home office here.

Atlanta also has a "very strong" and growing technology sector, says Jason Green, who has been practicing law for 14 years. Green is an in-house attorney for a company that buys up existing loans, and which is also creating software to allow financial information to be sent state to state legally and confidentially. Green works with programmers to help them navigate necessary laws, and also works with loan accounts that are not being paid. "I wear a lot of hats," he says.

There is a lot of international law to be done in Atlanta, with branch offices of large firms in town, including a branch of intellectual property law firm Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, which also has offices in Tokyo and Taipei.

Looking for a big firm? The top five Atlanta-based law firms are, according to the June 2003 Atlanta Business Chronicle:

1. Alston & Bird (447 lawyers)
   
2. King & Spalding (428 lawyers)
   
3. Troutman & Sanders (282 lawyers)
   
4. Kilpatrick & Stockton (250 lawyers)
   
5. Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy (217 lawyers)

Money.

Your salary might be lower than in New York City or Los Angeles, but the cost of living in Atlanta is far less, as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that for 2002 (the most recent data available) the mean hourly wage for lawyers in Atlanta is $45.94, and the mean yearly salary is $95,550.

Keep in mind, these numbers are at the center of earnings, with many earning far more. Also, the hourly rate may give a better sense of earnings - the yearly salary was calculated based on a 40-hour week, something attorneys rarely see.

We did a quick internet search for houses in the city of Atlanta with four or more bedrooms and two or more baths (we want to be optimistic for you) above $350,000. We got over 700 possibilities, all of which were single-family detached houses, and many of which had yards and trees. Most of the houses were under $800,000 - a near impossibility for a large house with a yard in a major Northeastern city.

Living here.

Does he miss the snow of his native Massachusetts? "I miss it coming down on a Friday, but not on the ground on a Monday," says Joe Iarocci.

"Today [March 26], the sun is shining, the sky is blue, it's 75 degrees and the dogwoods are blooming," says Susan McAvoy.

And the people? "I love the diversity of people here," says Iarocci. The city is "very cosmopolitan and diverse," says McAvoy; it does not live up to an "antiquated view of the South."

Atlanta has about 430,000 residents inside the city limits, and over 4 million people in the region.

The city itself is "surprisingly integrated," says David Davenport. There is a very well established, African-American middle and upper class in Atlanta, making it "quite a mecca" for many African-American professionals, says McAvoy.

There are lots of things to do in and near the city, say all our experts - hiking and backpacking in the nearby mountains, arts and entertainment in town. "It's a great city - but not too much of it," says Iarocci.

You could have a house with a yard and trees and be in the middle of Atlanta, ten minutes from your office, says Harry Harkins. Neighborhoods our experts recommended include: Druid Hills, Cascade, Morningside, Virginia Highlands and Buckhead.

Like most major cities, public schools in Atlanta vary in quality. There are neighborhood schools that are very good and see great loyalty, says Susan McAvoy; still, most lawyers probably have their kids in private schools, or move to the suburbs for the public schools there.

The downside? "God-awful traffic," says Jason Green. About 2 million new people have moved into the Atlanta area since the 1996 Summer Olympics, he estimates. The resulting housing boom has brought more people driving from the suburbs, but not many more roads for them to drive on. (You could avoid this, however, by getting a place in town.)

Atlanta advice.

1. "Visit," says Vickie Brown, Director of Career Services at the Georgia State University's College of Law (and the only native Atlantan we found!). Check out the town and do some networking while you're there - especially if you haven't landed a specific position yet, she recommends. Susan McAvoy concurs. "You just can't put enough stock in talking to people," she says.
   
2. Don't think that Atlanta is insular - if you're good, you have a shot. Legal employers in Atlanta actively seek out candidates from other regions, says Brown. Most important: a good law school and/or good standing at law school, and a good track record afterwards. For attorneys, Atlanta has a "more open market than other places," says Brown.
   
3. When you get here, get involved in the Bar; it's important to get to know as many other attorneys as possible to build that reputation, says David Davenport.
   
4. Caution: many lawyers, dissatisfied with their work, start sending out résumés to large, well-known nonprofits in an effort to do "good work," says Joe Iarocci. While admirable, charity begins at home, so to speak. You need to have demonstrated that you care about the same issues as your targeted organization: pro bono work, volunteering in the community, time in the Peace Corps working overseas - these would all bolster your application to nonprofits - both in Atlanta and elsewhere.
   
5. "Come on down!" says Harry Harkins. Atlanta is a great place to live. Both the legal and metropolitan community will welcome you.
   
6. Interested in Atlanta? There are 1,272 legal jobs in Atlanta on LawCrossing right now.

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