Profile

Michael H. Trotter enjoys assisting clients in devising successful solutions to difficult business/legal problems and in finding answers that save companies in some cases and resolve complex challenges in others.

He has served at various times as the principal securities lawyer for more than 15 public companies, including Aaron’s Inc., American Realty Trust, Charter Medical Corp.^*, Citizens & Southern Realty Investors^*, Colorocs Corp.^*, Equitable Leasing Corp.^*, Genuine Parts Co.^*, Hospital Investors^*, I.C.H. Corp., Magic Chef Inc.^*, National Data Corp.^*, Southmark Corp., Suburban Lodges of America Inc.^*, Citizens & Southern National Bank, and Vintage Enterprises Inc.^* He also served as the principal corporate attorney for several of these clients. He also has been the responsible attorney for debt financings as large as $525 million ($1.148 billion in 2015 dollars), and has supervised the legal work related to many business sales and acquisitions. He has served as special counsel to committees of independent directors in corporate investigations.

Mr. Trotter has devoted significant time to the representation of closely held businesses as well as family businesses, and he has served as an expert witness/expert adviser with respect to law firm operations and economics in two of the largest law firm bankruptcy proceedings in recent years. He has served as a special master for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

He has taught securities regulation at the Emory University School of Law as well as courses in law firm management and economics.

Mr. Trotter is the author of dozens of articles, columns and essays published in Atlanta’s legal newspaper, The Daily Report, as well as in other publications, such as Managing Partner Magazine, the American Bar Association Journal, and The National Law Journal. He is also the author of two important books on the economics and operations of major business practice law firms in America titled, "Profit and the Practice of Law: What's Happened to the Legal Profession?," and "Declining Prospects: How Extraordinary Competition and Compensation Are Changing America's Major Law Firms." As the author of "What’s to Become of the Legal Profession?," published in 2017, Mr. Trotter discusses the future of the practice of law in the United States. All of Mr. Trotter's books can be found on Amazon.com. 

_{*Michael Trotter was the attorney responsible for the initial public offering of these clients}

Memberships

State Bar of Georgia

American Bar Association, Law Practice Division's Law Firm Finance Committee, Past Chair; Law Practice Division's Knowledge Strategy Interest Group, Past Board Member; Law Practice Division's Lawyer Leadership & Management Interest Group, Past Member

Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, Member

Community Involvement

Principal founder, Former executive officer and director of Good Government Atlanta, Research Atlanta, and the Atlanta Committee for Public Education (various times between 1966 and 2002)

Central Atlanta Progress, Past Director

Buckhead Coalition, Past Director

Metro Atlanta Chamber, Past Education Committee

United Way of Greater Atlanta, Past Director

The Butler Street YMCA, Past Director

Butler Y Homes, Past Director

Atlanta Children and Youth Services Council, Past Director and Secretary

The Atlanta Action Forum, Past Agenda Committee Chair and Member, Past Co-Secretary

Urban Design Commission of the City of Atlanta, Past Member

Atlanta Commission on Crime and Juvenile Delinquency, Past Staff Attorney

The Atlanta Crime Commission, Past Director

The Clark Atlanta University School of Business, Past Advisory Board Member

Metro Atlanta Chamber, Education Committee, Past Member

Special Committee appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in the early 1970s to advise the Atlanta Public School System on the creation and operation of a unitary school system, Past Member

Brown University, Trustee, 1978-1983; Student Life Committee and the Minority Affairs Committee of the Brown Corp., Member, 1978-1992

Practice Highlights

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