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February 2005 The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel Page 55
Atlanta And The Southeast - Law Firms
Working To Make Atlanta An Even Better Place
The Editor interviews George T. million people. Areas that had been farm- mandated by the firm, but are encouraged
Manning, Partner-in-Charge of Jones land had become corporate campuses. The and reflect a firm culture that emphasizes
Day’s Atlanta office. Midtown area has been developing con- the responsibility we have as individuals
stantly over this period, much of it in con- to try to make Atlanta a better place.
nection with the expansion of Atlanta’s Atlanta is certainly the easiest city in
educational institutions. Perhaps the most which to volunteer than any other place I
Editor: Mr. Manning, would you tell
striking development over the past 15 have been.
our readers something about your
years has been the growth and impact of
career? Editor: That does not just happen.
Emory, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and
other educational institutions, including There must be a firm culture that values
Manning: I began my career at Chad-
Spelman, Moorehouse, Oglethorpe and this kind of volunteerism.
bourne & Parke in New York after Colum-
Agnes Scott. Atlanta has always been
bia Law School. After several years of
home to excellent colleges and universi- Manning: Our culture does value volun-
transactional work, I shifted to litigation. I
ties, but the recent expansion has added a teerism. I believe that each of us has a
immediately participated in the defense of
new dimension of sophistication to the responsibility to engage in this kind of
the outside directors of Franklin National
Bank, a complex financial fraud case, as city. activity, and as a firm we work to ensure
well as various investigations of U.S. Atlanta learned from some bad experi- that everyone, partners, associates and
issuers who had foreign payments issues. ences during Mayor Campbell’s adminis- staff, understands the value that the firm
These voluntary internal investigations tration – the essential value of a places on civic, community and pro bono
George T. Manning cooperative and collaborative relationship activities. Indeed, once one of our people
resulted in submissions to the SEC under
its amnesty program prior to the effective between the business community and the has demonstrated a personal commitment
date of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. well within our national system. city’s government. The election of Shirley to some undertaking, the firm usually sup-
I reached the conclusion that an associate Franklin as Mayor has been a major step ports those activities through additional
at a Wall Street firm was not going to try Editor: How has the office evolved over forward. Mayor Franklin has rejuvenated funding.
many, if any, cases, so I joined the United the past 15 years? Have there been par- the very cooperative relationship between
States Attorney’s Office for the Southern ticular practice specialties emphasized business and government. While there is Editor: What do you see for the future?
District of New York, where, for the next by the Atlanta office? necessarily tension, she reached out to the Where would you like the Jones Day
few years, I tried a number of criminal business community, and to the law firms Atlanta office to be in, say, five years?
cases. In 1982 I returned to Chadbourne to Manning: There have been a couple of in particular, to establish an ethical foun-
run its Washington office, where I phases. During the initial phase, the dation for relations and to change the ways Manning: The Atlanta office has gone
defended various individuals and entities Atlanta office lawyers were integrated into in which the system operated. Jones Day from close to 100 lawyers in 2000 to 140
in civil and criminal antitrust cases, SEC the rest of the firm. This was necessarily a was part of a group of law firms that today, and the firm is now 2,200 lawyers
and Congressional investigations and con- collaborative effort by Atlanta lawyers and addressed these issues on a pro bono basis with over 650 abroad, primarily in Europe
ducted investigations. the firm’s various practice groups. The and came up with recommendations. and Asia. Locally we have moved to Mid-
I came to Jones Day’s Washington assimilation of the Hansell & Post lawyers town and provided ourselves with suffi-
office in 1985 when that office had 80 from these practice areas into Jones Day Editor: Please tell us about the firm’s cient space to grow beyond our current
lawyers. I continued to do civil and crim- was a success. involvement in the city’s civic and com- size. Over the next 15 years or so we have
inal defense work, SEC and OFAC In 2000 when I moved to Atlanta we munity life. What are some of the char- the space to grow to 180 or 190 lawyers, if
enforcement, and a considerable amount had 95 lawyers in Atlanta, including well itable and cultural activities that the warranted, and I am pretty certain that we
of hostile takeover litigation which took developed labor and employment, prod- firm has supported? will be 150-plus soon enough. I am very
me into the board rooms of various finan- ucts liability, general litigation, mergers happy with our mix of practices at the
cial and industrial institutions. The sav- and acquisitions, corporate finance, ven- Manning: Jones Day and its predecessor moment. Most of the disciplines necessary
ings and loans industry was under scrutiny ture capital, real estate and private capital, in Atlanta, Hansell & Post, have been the for a full-service operation are in place
at this time, and we represented S&Ls and employee benefits and traditional tax prac- lawyers for the Woodruff Arts Center since now, including high-end private capital
their directors in a variety of investiga- tices. I was concerned, however, that we the early 1970’s. Over many years we work, Erisa, taxation – including state tax
tions. I was fortunate to have leadership did not have a strong bankruptcy presence, have worked with the Arts Center to
work – active litigation, IP prosecution
roles in the Drexel Burnham and TWA nor well developed CCI or IP practices. become the arts umbrella for Atlanta, and
and transactional practices that comple-
bankruptcies and to successfully try sev- These are all strong practices within the our lawyers have been involved with the
ment what we do in this regard elsewhere
eral hospital merger cases where the state firm. Our IP practice now has ten lawyers, High Museum, the Atlanta Symphony, the
both nationally and internationally. I think
and federal regulators were attempting to our bankruptcy practice has four lawyers Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta College of
we will add to our bench strength in all of
block the mergers, as well as significant and our CCI, two partners, and we have Art and a variety of theatre and arts orga-
our groups. We do not, however, aspire to
antitrust cartel investigations. increased our environmental practice. The nizations. Our lawyers have also been
involved on a volunteer basis in many of have an Atlanta office that is the size of the
In 2000 I moved to Atlanta as partner in Southeast is an area in which major corpo- Atlanta- and other regionally-based firms
charge of the Jones Day Atlanta office, and rations are addressing significant environ- these organizations. I believe that Jones
Day has the highest per lawyer contribu- that have originated in the Southeast. That
I have continued to have an active litiga- mental issues.
tion to the governing boards and member- would require us to duplicate capabilities
tion practice. As in the past, this work is Over time, the Jones Day office in
ship of the Woodruff Arts Center of any in other firm locations that are simply not
national and international in scope, and it Atlanta has evolved from an operation
law firm in the city. necessary here.
is on behalf of clients who are affected by providing services, in the main, to a
U.S. regulatory schemes. regional group of clients to one that is Together with the Atlanta Volunteer
Lawyers Program, we have established the Editor: Is there anything you would like
serving regional, national and interna-
tional clients on both inbound and out- Special Advocacy Program. This deals to add?
Editor: Jones Day has been in Atlanta
since 1989. For starters, what were the bound transactions. with children in the public school system
factors that led to the decision to open This synchronizes with the develop- with special education needs. At present, Manning: Our biggest challenge is to
an office in Atlanta? ment over the last 20 years of Jones Day 26 of our lawyers are trained in this work, make all segments of the Atlanta commu-
into a truly global firm of more than 2,200 which entails taking on individual children nity – the business community, the civic
Manning: When we merged with Hansell lawyers in 30 locations. This office is an as clients and seeing that they have access and community groups, the arts and the-
& Post in 1989, I commuted to Atlanta integral part of the whole. We provide ser- to the educational resources they need. atre organizations and the educational
from the Washington office to run the liti- vices seamlessly to clients far from This has been an extraordinary success. institutions and museums – understand
gation group here. Atlanta, and we routinely enlist colleagues Jones Day partners and associates have that no other law firm in Atlanta is in a
The principal reason for Jones Day to from around the world to staff matters for played leading roles in the Atlanta Legal position to provide access to the legal
have an office in Atlanta was the lack of a our local clients in the most effective and Aid Society and in other not-for-profit resources we have outside of Atlanta, both
Southeast U.S. presence. The Southeast is efficient way possible. It sounds like a slo- organizations, including the Boy Scouts, nationally and internationally. We are the
one of the most economically viable parts gan but it’s quite true that we act as one the Girl Scouts, Angel Flight – which is an lawyers who assisted with an art lending
of the country. Atlanta, with its easy access firm worldwide. organization of pilots who give their program for the Pushkin Museum in St.
and large number of corporate headquar- planes for medical emergencies for people Petersburg which has resulted in exhibits
ters, was a natural destination for Jones Editor: Can you tell us how Atlanta has who cannot afford it – the Atlanta Botani- never before seen in the West. We have
Day, which has a long history of repre- evolved over the time of Jones Day’s cal Garden, the Atlanta History Center, represented the High Museum of Art in a
senting private and public companies and presence? Leadership Atlanta, the MS Society, Focus six-year plan for art exchanges with the
their boards. Hansell & Post was a fine For Kids With Disabilities And Educa- Louvre. We have been able to do this
firm with particular strengths in real estate, Manning: In 1989, Atlanta had a little tional Issues, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers because of our international reach. It is
taxation, transactional work and litigation. less than 3 million people. When I Foundation and a number of other organi- my responsibility to bring this to the atten-
Their lawyers were very talented and fit returned in 2000 Atlanta had close to 4 zations. These volunteer activities are not tion of people in Atlanta.
Please email the interviewee at gtmanning@jonesday.com with questions about this interview.
