Justia Legal Services & Lawyers Directory

John has Spent His Legal Career Fighting for His Clients Throughout Georgia and Gainesville, Hall County (whether it be an auto accident, criminal charge or general litigation). Additionally, John is a Registered Court Mediator and Helps Parties Resolve Their Disputes via Mediation.

Plaintiff's Personal Injury:
Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia attorney John Breakfield represents those that need a lawyer because of an auto accident, car wreck, trucking accident, tractor trailer wreck (18 wheeler), property damage, a DUI driver, negligence, intentional torts, slip and fall or helping the family of a wrongful death victim.

John, as a lawyer in our Hall County law firm, knows the process and has assisted clients by dealing with insurance companies, insurance adjusters and insurance defense lawyers on important issues like: lost wages, pain and suffering, fair compensation for injuries and damages, accident reports, photos, witnesses, police reports, medical bills, medical records and trial or settlement.

Criminal Defense:
Additionally, John Breakfield, as a criminal defense lawyer has represented numerous clients through out all of Georgia, Hall County and Gainesville.

John, as a criminal defense attorney in our Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia office informs clients of the options in their case, whether it be a jury trial, bench trial, a negotiated plea, a motion to attack the case on legal grounds or alternative sentencing options (such as drug and alcohol counseling), First Offender Act, Nolo Plea, conditional discharge or pretrial diversion.

If you need a lawyer anywhere in Georgia and have been charges with possession of marijuana, cocaine, meth, underage possession of alcohol, consumption of alcohol by a minor, shoplifting, burglary, possession with intent, manufacturing, DUI/ D.U.I. (Driving Under the Influence), assault, battery, Family Violence Act (FVA), or any other crime, please understand that you have rights and the presumption of innocence.

Mediator/Mediation:
After seeing the large number of cases being fairly and efficiently resolved in mediation, attorney John Breakfield decided to take the training to become a registered mediator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution and the local office of the 9th District.

As a mediator, based in Gainesville, Georgia, John understands that his job is not to simply pass dollar amounts back and forth, but to listen to each party and to engage the parties in a meaningful discussion about the strengths and weakness of both sides of the case. If both parties can agree upon a reasonable resolution, then a formal written agreement can be reached in order to resolve the matter without the need for further court or trial.

Likewise, attorney Breakfield can also assist our clients through out Georgia that have Business Litigation, Real Estate Litigation or Eminent Domain/ Condemnation/ Government Taking cases.

Please visit our website to learn more: www.GainesvilleGeorgiaLawyers.com

Practice Areas
Mr. Tharp practice areas include both business litigation and family law matters. Much like his law partner, Mr. Meriwether, he finds that handling both types of cases provides unique advantages for his clients. His business litigation and small business experience helps provide extensive financial expertise in handling divorces with large, complicated estates. His family law practice helps provide more frequent courtroom experiences that help him to continue to learn how to best present cases in front of judges and juries.
Mr. Tharp handles a broad range of family law cases including divorce, modification actions, contempt proceedings, and appellant work. He regularly handles estates with large and unique assets, such as a business which can be difficult to value during a divorce proceeding. Mr. Tharp has completed formal mediation training and utilizes this knowledge to achieve favorable results while amicably trying to resolve matters for his clients. Although Mr. Tharp strongly believes that parties should try to resolve matters in a collaborative fashion whenever possible, he also willing, when necessary and appropriate, to utilize his extensive debate skills in a courtroom for his client’s advantage.
General Background and Education
Robert L. Tharp was born on Beale Air Force Base, California. As a child of a military family, he has lived all across the United States and abroad. In high school, Mr. Tharp started to compete at a national level in high school debate.

Mr. Tharp went college at Emory University and graduated in 1993. While in college, Mr. Tharp served as an active leader on campus and was president of the College Republicans, statewide officer of the College Republicans, president of the Georgia Conservancy, student representative to the Southern Accreditation Committee, and officer of Delta Tau Delta. Mr. Tharp also continued to develop his debate skills in college winning numerous college debate tournament awards including best freshman debater, most improved debater, and 1st place at Vanderbilt’s national debate competition. Mr. Tharp also reached elimination rounds for the national debate championship during his time in college.
Mr. Tharp stayed at Emory for law school and received his Juris Doctor Degree in May of 1996. In addition to the rigors of a law school curriculum, Mr. Tharp remained active within the college and high school debate community by helping to coach Emory University’s college debate program and serving as an assistant debate coach for several local high schools including Milton high school in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Mr. Tharp has continued to advance his education and skills since graduation from law school, most recently with his completion of formal mediation training to help better serve his client’s needs in this growing area of dispute resolution.
Civic Involvement
Mr. Tharp served on the Board of Directors for Emory University’s debate program, the Barkley Forum for a number of years. As part of Mr. Tharp’s contributions to Emory during this time period, he ran the Lincoln Douglas portion of the annual Barkley Forum for high school debate tournament at Emory University (the largest high school debate tournament in the nation) while supervising and coaching Emory students during the school year and high school students and high school teachers during annual summer debate workshops. Mr. Tharp also provided extensive help to the Georgia’s high school debate community by helping to run twenty plus high school tournaments a year throughout the greater Atlanta area including tournaments at Milton and Chattahoochee high school.

In addition, Mr. Tharp helped to establish and provided extensive hands-on service for the Urban Debate League program for high school and junior high school students. Mr. Tharp worked with establishing three of the initial Urban debate league programs in this country in Atlanta, Baltimore, and New York – a program that has expanded to 18 of the nation’s largest cities, served 311 urban high schools, 51 urban middle schools, and 37,000 urban public school students.

For these accomplishments, Mr. Tharp was the sole recipient of Emory University’s prestigious Warren Akin Outstanding Alumni Contribution award in 1998.

Political Background
Over the years, Mr. Tharp has been active in numerous state and federal campaigns for local, state and federal races from judges and state representatives to United States Congressmen. He has served various campaign roles from volunteer to campaign coordinator.

In addition, Robert L. Tharp was one of the founding members of a political consulting firm that managed various state and local level campaigns. Not only did this firm provide him with invaluable experience developing and executing comprehensive campaign plans, issues and materials, it also taught him lessons of how to run a business and the struggles that small businesses must manage.

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.

Candace Williams was born and raised in Gainesville, Georgia. She is the daughter of Paulette Cain. Ms. Williams is a graduate of North Hall High School Class of 1993. She then attended Brenau Women's College and earned her degree in Political Science in 1997, cum laude. Ms. Williams was very active while attending Brenau. She served as her sorority Vice President, Alpha Chi Omega, for two years, Vice President of the Student Body, the college Senate Board, and many other groups. Ms. Williams graduated from Brenau with distinction from the Political Science/History Department. Ms. Williams then moved to Washington D.C. and worked for Congressman Bob Barr, then was offered a position as a lobbyist for a civil liberties organization. She left D.C. after four years to attend law school with her brother, Adam Cain. Ms. Williams attended law school at Mississippi College School of Law and earned her degree in only two years. She competed in the school wide Moot Court competition and became the honored overall Winner after being selected following oral argument before the Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. She later was selected to compete nationally at the American Bar Association National Moot Court Competition against the best law schools in the Country. Ms. Williams was named a semi-finalist after arguing before the Supreme Court of Texas. After early graduation from law school, Ms. Williams returned to her hometown to practice law. She was blessed to find Coleman & Chambers, LLP and immediately began clerking after taking the State Bar Exam. After successfully passing the Georgia Bar Exam, Ms. Williams became an Associate Attorney for Coleman & Chambers, LLP. She is now a law firm Partner, the first female partner of her esteemed group. Ms. Williams practices solely in the area of Family Law. This involves complex divorce cases, contempts, modifications, adoptions, legitimations, paternity actions, and reviewing various legal documents for domestic clients. Ms. Williams is extremely hands on with her clients, and is supported by a wonderful team in the Family Law Department.

Regina I. Edwards is the Owner and Managing Attorney of Edwards & Associates. Ms. Edwards has been practicing law in Georgia since 2001. She graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University after three years of study in Political Science, Spanish and French. Ms. Edwards received departmental awards in Spanish, Pre-Law, English and Mathematics. Ms. Edwards attended Tulane University School of Law where she concentrated in family law courses. While in law school, Ms. Edwards clerked for several prestigious law firms in a variety of areas, including defense litigation, fair housing litigation, and public interest.

Following her admission to the bar, Ms. Edwards expanded her experience to encompass many areas of civil litigation, to include divorces, custody, legitimation, public housing, Social Security, disability, domestic violence, education, consumer advocacy and unemployment. Ms. Edwards found her passion to be family law and domestic litigation cases, and began to focus her practice exclusively in those areas. Ms. Edwards has several years of complex family law litigation experience. She has tried contested matters involving issues such as domestic violence, child custody, child support, alimony, equitable division of marital property, and contempt actions before both judges and juries in Georgia's Superior and Juvenile courts.

Potential clients can be assured that Ms. Edwards possesses the necessary experience and dedication to family law, and will give each and every client the personal attention that their case requires. Ms. Edwards takes pride in handling each client and case personally, and will return all client phone calls the same day. The law firm is dedicated to using cutting-edge technology in order to process your case and file more efficiently and more cost-effectively for her clients. Ms. Edwards and her staff attend educational seminars and programs to ensure that the most current law and updates and available for use in your case.

When Ms. Edwards is not passionately representing her clients, Ms. Edwards enjoys travelling to different countries. She has travelled to more than 30 countries and speaks four languages. She also enjoys reading, racquetball, dance, running and spending time with family and friends.

Congratulations to Robert W. Chambers, who just received an AVVO.com rating which places him within the Top 1% of Local Lawyers!

Rob Chambers is a founding partner of the law firm of Coleman and Chambers, LLP and is a well-respected lawyer in Gainesville, Hall County and throughout the State of Georgia.

Over the course of Rob's distinguished legal career, he has had the honor of serving the people of Hall County as a State Court Judge, Flowery Branch, Georgia as their City Attorney, his fellow attorneys of Hall and Dawson County as their representative on the Georgia State Bar Board of Governors and the Superior Court of Hall County as a real estate litigation Special Master to help resolve complicated real estate disputes.

While a judge, Rob Chambers gained an extremely valuable insider's viewpoint of the judicial system while presiding over important matters such as: medical malpractice claims, automobile accidents/ car wrecks, trucking accidents (18 wheelers), personal injuries, slip and fall, contract disputes, condemnation an eminent domain, driving under the influence charges (D.U.I.), speeding tickets and numerous other criminal and civil cases.

In an effort to focus on meeting the needs of his clients at Coleman and Chambers, LLP, Rob retired from the Hall County State Court and has turned his focus to the areas of Personal Injury, Real Estate Purchases, Real Estate Litigation, Construction/ Development, Contracts, Business Law, Eminent Domain (condemnation) and as a former Judge, Rob also supervises our Personal Injury, Criminal Defense and Civil Litigation departments (including general litigation and serious injury cases).

Even before the recent United States Supreme Court ruling on Eminent Domain, Rob was and is on the cutting edge of fighting for our clients' property rights against the State and local governments that attempt to take away land without just compensation. Mr. Chambers has dedicated the better part of his practice fighting for just and adequate compensation for landowners, tenants, and businesses alike. Mr. Chambers recently attended an Eminent Domain seminar in Atlanta that discusses many of the issues surrounding this little known area of law. Chambers, whose knowledge is extensive in the area of Condemnation Law, feels it is always worthwhile to maintain the utmost cutting edge when fighting on behalf of landowners against those such as Georgia Power and The Georgia Department of Transportation. More often than not, the ultimate decision makers conclude that the money offered by Condemnors (those seizing private lands) seriously undervalue the total worth of the "taking". Many Landowners are entitled to an award of money in excess of the raw land value and absolutely must consult an expert to determine their total losses which may include damages to the remaining lands (consequential damages) and potential business and unique losses. The methods of obtaining just and adequate compensation are becoming more and more complex and Landowners should consider the assistance of an attorney that is familiar with the Eminent Domain proceedings. While progress is vital, it should not come at the expense of property owners.

Over the last two decades, Rob Chambers has practiced in courts throughout Georgia including the Superior Courts of Hall County (Gainesville, Oakwood, Flowery Branch), Lumpkin County (Dahlonega), Dawson County (Dawsonville), White County (Cleveland), Habersham County (Cornelia, Clarkesville), Jackson County (Jefferson), Forsyth County (Cumming), Gwinnett County (Lawrenceville, Buford) and the municipal courts of Gainesville, Flowery Branch, Oakwood, Buford, Dahlonega and more.

If you are searching for a well respected lawyer for your Personal Injury, Business Litigation, Business Planning, Eminent Domain, Zoning, Construction Litigation, Contract disputes, Real Estate Closing, Real Estate Litigation, Personal Injury or Criminal Charges, please contact attorney Rob Chambers today via e-mail or by phone at our office in Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia.

Social Security disability and workers' compensation attorney in Loganville, Georgia. The Klob Law Firm represents injured workers and disabled individuals in Walton, Gwinnett, Barrow, Newton, Rockdale, Dekalb, Hall and Fulton counties and all cities therein. In addition to serving Walton County and adjacent counties, The Klob Law Firm also accepts cases outside this region on a case-specific basis and is qualified to provide representation statewide throughout the states of Georgia and Tennessee.

John R. Coleman, Jr. (Bob) has established himself as a leader in the North Georgia area both in and out of Court. Bob handles a wide variety of Domestic, Personal Injury and Business matters. He is a frequent lecturer at Family, Juvenile and Business law seminars. His experience has also assisted him in his role as a registered mediator. His memberships include the Northeastern Bar Association, State Bar of Georgia, American Bar Association and ATLA. He graduated from Walter F. George, Mercer University in 1989 and has made Gainesville, Hall County his home.

Practice Areas: Criminal Law, Trial Practice, Appellate Practice and Civil Litigation.

Admitted: 2002, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia; 1998, Georgia; 1995, Pennsylvania

Law School: Cornell University Law School, J.D., 1995

Graduate School: New York University, M.A., Philosophy, 1993

Undergrad: Pace University, B.A., Psychology, B.B.A., Marketing, 1989

Member: State Bar of Georgia; Pennsylvania Bar Association; Gwinnett County Bar Association; Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Biography: Regional Representative, Black Law Students Association, 1993-1995. Former Member: Philadephia, Pennsylvania District Attorney's Office, 1995-1998; Fulton County District Attorney's Office, 1998-2000. Graduated Commandant's List from Field Artillery Basic Course, 1992.

Military: Second Lieutenant, New Jersey Army National Guard, 1991-1999