Experience
John Tatum recently retired from the Firm’s Savannah office, where he concentrated his practice on business litigation including business torts, contractual and commercial disputes, fraud cases, RICO, ERISA, business governance and financial disputes, intellectual property disputes, and class actions.
John was a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and was listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, ERISA Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation, and Trusts & Estates Litigation. He was named Lawyer of the Year for 2012 in Bet-the-Company Litigation for Savannah.
John graduated with a B.A. in 1965 and an LL.B. in 1968 from the University of Georgia. In law school, he was a justice on the Honor Court and served as decisions editor for the Georgia Law Review from 1967 to 1968.
He was admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits; the U.S. Court of Claims; the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Georgia; and all Georgia courts. John served as a member of the Lawyer Advisory Committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1998 to 2002. He was a fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Georgia Bar Foundation, a member of the American Judicature Society and the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association, and an associate member of American Association for Justice.
John served as general counsel to Savannah Foods & Industries, Inc., from 1988 to 1997, and he served on the board of directors of SunTrust Bank of Savannah from 1988 to 2012. His many civic commitments include serving on the CEO Council for the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, as chairman of the board of directors for Union Mission, and as Clerk of Session for First Presbyterian Church.