Action and Reflection Go Hand in Hand for Atlanta Litigator

Atlanta solo practitioner Auden Grumet writes poetry in his head while riding his bicycle. He has logged more than 800 rides and says the activity has helped him network with other lawyers.
John Disney, Daily Report

Two poems by Auden L. Grumet: "Victuals" and "Tuesday Afternoon."

A good workday for civil litigation attorney Auden L. Grumet ends with a night bike ride of 25 to 50 miles. There would be no crashes and he'd return home with the answer to a thorny legal issue or the persistent line for a poem running through his head.

"There's no better feeling than getting back from a nice ride," said solo practitioner Grumet. "But when I bang out a good poem -- that feels really good, too."

Grumet specializes in consumer protection and advocacy, credit disputes and real estate/mortgage issues, including home loan modifications.

The Daily Report spoke with Grumet about how his active lifestyle and his writing enhance his career and life.

When did you first become interested in cycling?

My first long cycling experience was with a school group in 1987. I was 16. We rode 600 miles to Dauphin, Ala., in five days. I was a terrible student when I was younger and was expelled from three schools. I didn't do anything really bad, but I would get in trouble for running my mouth and not doing what I was told. My dad found a school that focused on vocational learning, biking and camping trips and, although I didn't want to go there, it helped me get myself together.

As an adult, I started bike-riding for exercise and to help with back problems in 2005. I haven't gone more than 10 days without being on a bike since, unless I've been out of town. My log shows 800 rides.

How many miles do you ride in a week?

Since my legal practice got busier, I'm averaging about 100 to 150 miles a week. I ride alone three to five times a week, mostly at night. I also take weekend rides with the North Georgia Cycling Association and Dunwoody Cycling groups.

How fast do you go?

I average 16 to 22 miles per hour in darkness and stop-and-go traffic.

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New Atlanta Firm Offers Divorce a la Carte

From left, Michael Manely, his wife Shelia, and Luis Velez stand in the dress shop they are transforming into the Justice Cafe at Peachtree and MLK Drive in Atlanta.
Rebecca Breyer

Many middle-income people seeking a divorce can't afford to hire a lawyer but aren't poor enough to qualify for legal aid. Michael and Shelia Manely hope to fill this gap with a new kind of family law firm, the Justice Café.

Located a block from the Fulton County, Ga., Superior Courthouse, the Justice Café will charge $75 an hour for a la carte help in divorces and other family law matters, with no retainer up front, unlike most family law firms.

The storefront space at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Peachtree Street will take walk-in clients who want to handle their divorce themselves but need some guidance from a lawyer. Clients can pay for either general advice or specific tasks, such as drafting an answer to a complaint or representation at a 30-day hearing.

The typical client will engage a Justice Café lawyer for 10 or fewer hours, said Michael Manely.

"If they need more than 10 hours of help, then they probably need a full-service approach," said Manely, whose Marietta, Ga.-based practice, The Manely Firm, has specialized in full-service family law for about a decade.

Firms offering walk-in, a la carte family law services have sprung up in other parts of the country, but Manely said this is a first for Georgia.

The lawyers staffing the Justice Café will work on contract and collect half the $75 hourly fee. The other half will cover overhead. At $37.50 an hour, a lawyer billing 30 hours per week can earn an annual gross salary of about $55,000.

The Manelys think this arrangement will attract both new law school graduates seeking work and experienced lawyers who don't want the hassle of running their own shops.

"It's a way to serve people on Main Street," said Michael Manely. "There is no reason a working man or woman should not have access to legal services."

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Atlanta IP Firm Opens D.C. Office With Former Sterne Kessler Lawyer

By Matthew Huisman All Articles 

The National Law Journal

November 12, 2012

Atlanta-based Parks IP Law has opened a Washington, D.C., outpost with the help of a former Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox director.

Theodore Wood will serve as the lead partner in the firm's second office. Firmwide, Parks IP includes 11 attorneys. Wood is joined in Washington by of counsel Corey Mack.

The firm originally focused on patent and trademark law, but has since expanded to include practices like IP litigation and technology transactions.

Wood helped start the grid industry group at Sterne Kessler before joining Parks IP. In an interview, Wood said he met founding partner Cynthia Parks during a patent bar study course in 2001 and that the two kept in contact. Parks founded her firm in 2004 and the two would often discuss opportunities for collaboration.

But despite the change in scenery, Wood said he would continue to pursue much of the same work that he did at his previous firm.

"At Sterne Kessler, most of my time was focused on managing portfolios important to the firm," Wood said. "I focused some of my time on writing and speaking."

He said he hopes to be able to devote more time to speaking engagements and writing at his new firm. Wood said that despite their size, the firm has notable clients like AT&T and General Electric. He said the firm is currently in talks to expand its Washington office.

"As we build those clients and focus in on the grid, we think there will be a tremendous opportunity to add bodies here in the D.C. office," Wood said.

This article first appeared on The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.

A Bar of Their Own: Korean-Americans Stand Up in Atlanta

Korean-American Bar Association members include, clockwise from lower left: Sara Hamilton, Alex Shin, Steve Park and June Towery.
John Disney, Daily Report

In a sign that Atlanta's Korean-American legal community is gaining critical mass, a group of lawyers of Korean descent has launched the Korean-American Bar Association of Georgia.

One impetus for forming the new bar association is to mentor younger lawyers, said Jeong-Hwa Lee "June" Towery, a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, who helped organize the group.

"For a few years I have been wanting to put the Korean-descent attorneys together for mutual support, information exchange and networking," said Towery, who is KABA Georgia's president.

"The main thing is the mentoring," she added. "Typically these are the first attorneys from their families and they don't have the exposure to lawyers. They can have a hard time adjusting to the big firm environment."

Towery said about 45 lawyers and law students came to KABA Georgia's first meeting in late August. About half the lawyers who attended were small practitioners serving Korean individuals, she said, and the other half work for corporate firms.

"The response was incredible," she said, noting that a lot of law students attended, including some who had driven to Atlanta from the University of Georgia in Athens.

Towery estimated that there are more than 100 lawyers and law students of Korean descent in the Atlanta area, with about 50 Korean lawyers in Gwinnett, where there is a large Koreatown, and another 30 or more in corporate Atlanta firms.

"There is a general feeling of trying to help people out," said Han Choi, a partner at Ballard Spahr, who is the new group's vice president. "We're trying to make sure younger Korean-American lawyers get some opportunities to meet people."

He and Towery said major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Washington and Chicago already have KABAs.

In Atlanta, the Georgia Asian-Pacific American Bar Association has been around since 1992, but until now there has been no bar association specifically focused on the growing Korean legal community.

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