ATLANTA (October 15, 2021) – Smith Gambrell Russell LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce that Jacksonville attorney Dion Bass has been selected to the Leadership Jacksonville Class of 2022, the city’s foremost leadership think tank. Leadership Jacksonville is a yearlong program that challenges adult leaders from diverse sectors of the community to develop a heightened understanding of the community’s key issues and how they can work together to improve them. Since the first class in 1976-1977, more than 2300 alumni have completed the program. The Leadership Jacksonville organization educates established and emerging leaders about the community’s key issues, connects program… Read more

ATLANTA (September 20, 2021) – Smith Gambrell Russell LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce that attorney Victor Metsch has been chosen from among 2,000 volunteers to receive a City Bar Justice Center (CBJC) 2021 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award. Mr. Metsch was selected by the Director of the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP) as that project’s most outstanding volunteer of 2021. CBJC, the largest division of the City Bar Fund which is the nonprofit affiliate of the New York City Bar Association (City Bar), furthers access to justice by addressing unmet civil legal needs of New Yorkers struggling with poverty… Read more

ATLANTA (September 7, 2021) – Smith Gambrell Russell LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce a refreshed brand identity, along with the relocation of its headquarters office to a state-of-the-art space within Midtown Atlanta’s new 1105 West Peachtree project. The firm joins innovators like Google who will call the new, mixed-used development home. SGR is unveiling a modern logo and brand identity, which reflects its legacy as a leading global business services firm. Since 1893, the firm has provided its clients with swift, expert and cost-effective legal services to businesses on the cutting-edge of their fields. With its worldwide reach, including… Read more

NEW YORK (September 2, 2021) – Smith Gambrell Russell LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce the firm served as legal counsel to GAIA Real Estate, a privately held, full-service, vertically integrated real estate investment firm, in its $49.5 million acquisition of 50-58 East 3rd Street, a portfolio of three contiguous residential buildings and 71 units located in Manhattan’s East Village. This is GAIA’s first New York City (NYC) acquisition since the pandemic and the first within its NY Metro Fund recovery strategy. Headquartered in NYC, GAIA has acquired $3 billion of real estate that can be enhanced by hands-on management… Read more

ATLANTA (September 1, 2021) – Smith Gambrell Russell LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce that the firm served as legal counsel to Slope Software (Slope), the Atlanta insurtech startup that is modernizing actuarial modeling for insurers, in its $2 million investment led by Tech Square Ventures, a leading early-stage investment firm. Tech Square was joined in the round by Alerion Ventures and Charlotte Angel Fund, with significant participation from existing investor Cofounders Capital. Slope is a 100% cloud-native actuarial modeling ecosystem that merges multiple disparate processes into a single unified platform, which reduces the labor required at every step, eliminates… Read more

ATLANTA (August 19, 2021) – Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce that 13 of the firm’s attorneys have been included in the 2022 Edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in the category’s second year. The following attorneys have been named to 2022 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in their respective practice areas and cities: Dion K. Bass, Sr. received a 2022 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch recognition for Insurance Law; Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants; and Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants in Jacksonville. William E. Burnett received a 2022 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch recognition… Read more

ATLANTA (August 19, 2021) – Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce that five of the firm’s attorneys have been recognized by Best Lawyers as 2022 “Lawyer of the Year.” The Best Lawyers in America© is the leading peer-review-based directory of legal practitioners. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the “Lawyer of the Year,” making this accolade particularly significant. These lawyers are selected based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer review assessments. Receiving this designation reflects the high level of respect a lawyer has earned… Read more

ATLANTA (August 19, 2021) – Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce that 66 of its attorneys were selected for inclusion in the 2022 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America, the leading peer-review-based directory of legal practitioners. SGR has continued to increase the number of firm attorneys recognized by Best Lawyers® each year. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer review evaluation. Almost 113,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around… Read more

ATLANTA (August 9, 2021) – Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP (SGR) is pleased to announce that firm client, CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. (NYSE: CTT), has announced a definitive agreement as a part of its Triple T venture to sell 301,000 acres of prime East Texas timberlands to a client of the Hancock Natural Resource Group, Inc., a Manulife Investment Management company, for $498 million in cash or approximately $1,656 per acre. CatchMark serves as the asset manager and general partner of the venture on behalf of a consortium of institutional investors. The sale is expected to close in the third… Read more