Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

Prior to attending law school, I served in the United States Army as an Infantry Officer. I served as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Mortar Platoon Leader, Instructor, Battalion Staff Officer and an Infantry Rifle Company Commander.

I began practicing law in Canton, Georgia in 1993. After obtaining a Master of Laws concentrating in litigation, I logged several thousand hours in the courtroom developing a practice in domestic relations, criminal law and commercial litigation. In 2007 I was certified as a mediator, using my years of courtroom experience coupled with alternative dispute resolution training to help people resolve complex issues without excessive unnecessary costs of litigation. Conversely, I am able to apply the tactics and techniques I learn as a mediator as a tool to more effectively advocate for my clients.

Practice Areas

Since 2000, Mr. Meriwether has focused seventy percent (70%) of his practice on family law and thirty percent (30%) on business law. Through time, he has found that family and business law complement each other well in practice, as his skills from one area transfer easily to the other. Business litigation cases tend to require fewer Court appearances, but the family law cases of Mr. Meriwether's practice has afforded him the opportunity to appear in Court more often and hone skills necessary both for family law and business litigation. Mr. Meriwether's business litigation and transactional work provide the experience and ability to examine and tirelessly move through financial documents, both for business cases, including personal and small businesses, as well as family law cases involving large marital estates in need of equitable division.

Mr. Meriwether utilizes the latest computer software to maintain detailed and comprehensive records of his complex cases. This software allows Mr. Meriwether and his clients to quickly access case information and ensures that no details of the case are overlooked.

Family Law

Mr. Meriwether handles a broad range of family law cases, including divorce, adoption, child custody and support modification, adoption, domestic violence, and premarital agreements. He regularly deals with marital assets ranging from those of little or even negative value to those worth millions of dollars, and competently calculates spousal and child support when applicable.

Mr. Meriwether has said, "In the Courtroom, we zealously represent our clients. But often, fierce litigation is not the best way to resolve a divorce, and we work to settle cases through active negotiation. A divorce can be the most life altering and stressful event anyone can go through, but it does not have to be." To help alleviate the stress often involved in family law cases, Mr. Meriwether takes a collaborative approach to family law. This approach involves utilizing negotiation and mediation to help maintain an amicable relationship between the parties. In cases with children, collaborative law protects the children above all else, creates a win/win situation for the parties, and the parties walk away as satisfied as possible.

In some family law cases, collaborative law will not work, or is inappropriate. Mr. Meriwether evaluates every case on an individual basis to determine how aggressive to approach the case based on the facts, the Court in which the case will be heard, and the Judge who will hear the case. The goal is to achieve the best possible outcome for an individual client. In Mr. Meriwether's experience, compared to a more subtle approach, a "take no prisoners" attitude often results in higher lawyer's fees without a corresponding increase in the achieved result. As such, Mr. Meriwether aims to provide the correct level of aggressiveness to each case for the best result possible.

Business Law

Mr. Meriwether handles a variety of business law cases including simple and complicated business formations, and business divorces. He routinely forms Limited Liability Companies and Corporations. In so doing, he often is asked to draft complex contracts to assist the new business entity with its operations. He also assists clients with the buying and selling of businesses (including the due diligence associated with this process).

Mr. Meriwether views business formations involving a group of friends or acquaintances as marriages, albeit financial ones, and he excels in spotting potential pitfalls when parties are entering into a business relationship. He works hard to ensure that his clients enter into their business ventures well-informed and protected from whatever business complications they may encounter.

Membership

State Bar of Georgia (Member of the Family Law and Business Law Sections)
The Florida Bar
American Bar Association (Member of the Family Law and Business Law Sections)

Admissions
1996, Georgia
1996, Florida

Speaking Engagements
LLC Trends and Developments by National Business Institute. Continuing Legal Education for fellow attorneys.

Arbitration
In 2007, Mr. Meriwether obtained his certification for arbitration. He is ready to arbitrate any Family Law issues and most Business Law matters.

Professional Experience - Mr. Meriwether was admitted to practice law in Florida and Georgia in 1996. In 1998, Patrick L. Meriwether left the Atlanta office of Arthur Anderson and joined Robert Tharp to establish Meriwether & Tharp. His position at Arthur Anderson involved providing tax advice to a variety of large corporations. Mr. Meriwether; however, missed the personal satisfaction that comes with running his own practice and assisting small businesses and individuals with their legal needs. This is where he felt that he could really make the biggest difference.

Community Experience - Mr. Meriwether volunteers time to teach Judo to both children and adults. He holds a Black Belt in Judo and, when he competed in law school, he was the Florida State Champion in his weight division two years in a row. At the 2007 Georgia State Games, he won the gold in his division.

Our firm is dedicated to all aspects of intellectual property law including: Patent, Trademark, Copyright, Trade Secret, Domain Name Dispute, Entertainment, Sports Law, Licensing and related Litigation.

Our practice positions your business to meet its objectives by creating a strategy to identify and maximize your intellectual property.

At our core, our Intellectual Property practice is focused on leveraging your innovation.

North American operations counsel for multinational chemical company providing legal advice and guidance relating to the Company's chemical business for matters affecting sales, marketing, product liability, regulatory compliance, etc., and negotiation of all commercial transactions including complex and international contracts. Member of the North American operations senior management team

Kurt Raulin is the founding member and principal lawyer of The Raulin Professional Group, an Atlanta, Georgia commercial law firm. Immediately prior to forming the firm, Kurt served as the general counsel for Tivoli Properties, an Atlanta developer of high-rise condominiums, apartments and hotels.

Kurt brings a wealth of experience in contract, corporate and real estate-related matters to his practice of law. In particular, he has expertise in the acquisition and entitlement of real estate for development, the preparation of construction contract documents, the negotiation of equity and institutional financing, the formation of corporate, limited liability company and partnership investment vehicles, the structuring of commercial refinancing and work-outs, the drafting of condominium documents and subdivision covenants, and the negotiation of telecommunications agreements and related easements.

Before returning to Atlanta, Kurt previously served as the general counsel for two different South Florida real estate development and investment companies, based in Boca Raton and Miami, respectively. Kurt started his full-time legal career as a commercial real estate attorney in the Atlanta office of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin.

Kurt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) in Economics and Political Science from the University of Florida, a Juris Doctor degree (J.D.), with honors, from the University of Florida, and a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) in Real Property Development & Finance from the University of Miami. He also attended the University of Virginia as an undergraduate and Oxford University as a law school exchange student, and completed two years of economics graduate work at the University of Florida graduate school of business.

Before Kurt attended graduate school and law school, he managed five political campaigns on behalf of U.S. congressional and state legislative candidates in Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.

Kurt is a member of the Atlanta Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association and the Federalist Society. He is admitted to practice before the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Kurt serves as a member of the University of Florida Law Alumni Council, and is also a contributing life member of the alumni associations of the University of Florida, the University of Miami and the University of Virginia.

In his free time, Kurt enjoys running, sailing, snow skiing, tennis, hiking, hunting, trout fishing, and reading history and political biographies. He is also an avid college football fan.