Doug’s professional leadership includes serving as Chair of the Employee Benefits Law section of the State Bar of Georgia and simultaneously serving as a Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Life, Health, and Disability Insurance Law Committee. Doug has an “AV Preeminent” rating among his peers as published in Martindale.com and Lawyers.com.
Prior to law school, Doug obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics from Clemson University in 1988, with honors, where he was a member of the Calhoun College honor society and was an Edgar A. Brown merit scholar.
Doug has over 30 years of litigation experience, including litigation in all federal districts in Georgia and in other states. He has tried numerous cases in state and federal courts and has successfully argued multiple appellate decisions. He is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts located in Georgia, including the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. In 2004, Doug began dedicating a greater portion of his law practice to representing policyholders and employees in their pursuit of benefit claims against insurance carriers under disability, life and accidental death and dismemberment policies and employee benefit plans. Since that time, he has developed a detailed understanding of the federal ERISA statutes, regulations and procedures that apply to these claims. Doug has spoken to other lawyers in continuing legal education seminars regarding disability insurance law and tactics for successfully prosecuting these claims. His diverse jury trial experience continues to assist him in representing policyholders in claims under private disability and life insurance claims that allow for jury trials and recovery of bad faith damages in addition to benefits.
In addition to insurance benefit litigation, Doug continues to handle a select number of cases involving individuals who have been seriously injured or disabled due to the negligence or reckless acts of others, wrongful death cases.