Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

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.

Robert Sneed has more than eleven (11) years' of experience in all aspects of litigation. Robertâs primary focus of practice is in the area of personal injury and wrongful death, products and premises liability, insurance coverage disputes, estates, domestic matters, general tort litigation, and corporate formation and representation.

Robert has tried numerous jury and non-jury trials, representing plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts in Georgia and other jurisdictions. He has appeared before arbitral forums such as the American Arbitration Association, and has successfully mediated hundreds of civil cases in Georgia.

Prior to forming McConnell & Sneed, Robert previously served as a trial lawyer with the Property Team at Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, LLP, where he regularly defended the interests of insurance companies and their insureds. Prior to that, Robert was a trial lawyer at Weinstock & Scavo, P.C., where he aggressively represented the interests of his clients within Georgia and in other jurisdictions. Robert has also served as in-house counsel for Infinity Property & Casualty Company, where he defended insureds in third party civil actions and was instrumental in drafting insurance policy language in various states across the country. Robertâs diverse background in representing insurance companies, insureds, and injured parties, provides him with the unique ability to apply his experience in practicing on both sides of the aisle in effectively representing his clients.

Robert is married to Beth Sneed, a native of the Atlanta area and Marist High School graduate, and currently live in the Brookhaven area of Atlanta. Robert plays on a regular ALTA tennis team and enjoys golf and traveling.

DANIEL S. WRIGHT provides general business legal services in the fields of commercial real estate, entity formation and governance, joint venture/equity structure arrangements, intellectual property, and various other transactional practice areas. Dan has experience working with organizations both large and small to achieve their goals and understands their different organizational and business needs. Because he started his career in litigation, Dan also appreciates the pragmatic aspects of agreement enforceability and cost-driven decisions. Dan keeps the focus on the client's business rather than legal minutiae.

Dan's other primary field of practice is estate planning, particularly focusing on trust establishment and estate tax avoidance. Dan has given several seminars (in-house and via invitation) concerning such issues as basic estate planning and Georgia's new advance directive for healthcare. Dan particularly enjoys the aspect of teaching his clients the ins and outs of estate planning, as with a few simple moves, a lot of money and emotional pain can be avoided.

Dan is a member in good standing of the State Bar of Georgia and the Dekalb Bar Association. Dan has also served as an officer in his neighborhood association and currently provides legal advice on a pro bono basis to that organization.

Dan graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law. During his time in law school, Dan was on the editorial and managing boards of the Georgia Law Review and active in student government. Dan also interned in the summer of 1998 for U.S. Magistrate Judge Gerrilyn G. Brill, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia. Dan graduated from Trinity University, located in San Antonio, Texas, in 1996 with a B.A. in Economics.

Gerry Balboni is an experienced deal lawyer representing growth companies, investors, and buyers and sellers of growth companies.

He has distinctive expertise in venture capital, private equity, acquisitions, and licensing and distribution of technology and software.

Gerry brings a results-oriented approach to every engagement. He knows what works and what doesn't.

Gerry graduated from the University of South Florida in 1975 with a B.A. in English, from the Graduate School of Business of Stetson University in 1977 with an MBA, and from the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama in 1984 with a J.D., cum laude.

Prior to attending law school Gerry sold computers and software for NCR.

When not practing law, Gerry likes to sail, flyfish, ride bikes, garden, and drink good wine.

Gerry is a past Senior Warden of St. Patrick's Episcopal Chruch in Dunwoody, GA, and is on the Board of Ring Lake Ranch, in Dubois, WY.

Persuasive and creative team player with nearly 6 years legal experience, 12 years total work experience, and solid interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills that move others beyond positions to results. Works well unsupervised while maintaining client goals and adhering to rigid deadlines. Quick, resourceful, and enjoys new challenges.

My practice areas: as required by the rules of the Georgia State Bar and other state bars, I do not claim "specialization" in any area. However, I have practiced extensively in the following areas:

Drafting/negotiating contracts; corporate representation involving matters of governance, compliance (including HIPAA), and risk reduction; litigation of business, contract, tort/personal injury, insurance, probate, and property matters; estate planning for Medicaid, tax, and special needs cases; and criminal defense.


Should you want to know more about me personally, feel free to check out the websites and profiles on the right.

I have been in practice since 1992. My practice primarily focuses on business and probate litigation. I have handled numerous appeals to the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court for my clients.

My firm is a small firm specializing in superior service to our clients. Prior to practicing law, I owned a large printing, publishing company that I sold.

My team consists of two lawyers and a paralegal who has worked with me for many years. We are technologically savvy and communicate with our clients via email where possible.

Through the other attorney in my office, we handle domestic matters as well as other civil litigation.

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.