John L. Watkins' Bio
John L. Watkins has practiced law since 1982, and is a registered mediator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. John graduated first in his class at the University of Georgia law school in 1982, where he received an academic scholarship, was a member of the Georgia Law Review Editorial Board, and received numerous academic awards, including the Order of the Coif. While in law school, John also worked as a teaching assistant and research assistant in the School of Business. John received his undergraduate degree from Mercer University, where he was on the debate team and received a first round bid to the National Debate Tournament. As a debater, John was required to debate both sides of an issue, an experience which has proven invaluable in mediation.
John joined Chorey, Taylor & Feil, a Professional Corporation, a respected business and commercial law firm in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007, after a brief stint at Wagner, Johnston & Rosenthal, P.C. Previously, John was a partner of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, a large international firm, where he practiced for over twenty years. Prior to McKenna Long, John practiced at Hansell & Post, which is now the Atlanta office of Jones, Day.
John’s law practice currently focuses on insurance coverage issues and business litigation, including trade secret, trade dress, construction, and contract disputes. John also has extensive experience in handling catastrophic personal injury and death claims and product liability claims. John advises clients on product liability issues and minimizing liability risk, and recently has spoken on those subjects at seminars in Munich, Germany. John is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eleventh and Third Circuits, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and all other Georgia state courts. John’s practice is national in scope, and John has also been admitted pro hac vice in courts in many other states.
John was an “early adapter” to mediation and alternative dispute resolution. John has represented businesses, policyholders, and insurers in numerous mediations in Georgia and other states since the late 1980s, including in cases with damages claims of nine figures and in class action cases. John has written and spoken extensively on mediation and alternative dispute resolution. John was interviewed in the August 2006 issue of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel to provide a practitioner’s views on the changing landscape of alternative dispute resolution.
John has seen the “good, the bad, and the ugly” of mediation. “I have seen mediators settle cases that I thought could not be settled. I have also seen supposedly respected mediators breach confidences or take other actions that, to say the least, did not help matters. In speaking to lawyers across the country, there seems to be a consensus as to the characteristics of a good mediator, but good mediators seem hard to find, particularly in commercial and insurance cases, and, when found, difficult to schedule. I hope to be an alternative to help parties settle cases.”
John is currently on the Board of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Construction Section, and served as Program Chair in 2006. John is also active in the German American Chamber of Commerce, and is a Fellow of the Center for International Legal Studies, and a member of the Goethe Institute. John also is a Master in the Bleckley Inn of Court, and a member of the University of Georgia Law School’s Lumpkin Society and the Lawyer’s Club of Atlanta. John served two terms on McKenna Long & Aldridge’s Board of Directors.
Back to Top
Presentations
- Speaker on Mediation in Construction Cases: Some Thoughts for the General Practitioner, ICLE Seminar on Construction Law for the General Practitioner, Atlanta, Georgia, September 28, 2007
- Organizer and featured speaker at seminar on U.S. Product Liability Issues and Risk Management, conducted in cooperation with the Munich and Upper Bavaria IHK (International Chamber of Commerce), Munich, Germany, October 2007. Panel participants included representatives of Aon and Dieffenbacher GmbH & Co.KG.
- Organizer and featured speaker at seminar on U.S. Product Liability Issues: What German Companies Need to Know, conducted in cooperation with the Munich and Upper Bavaria IHK (International Chamber of Commerce), Munich, Germany, October 2006. Panel participants included representatives of Daimler-Chrysler, A.G., Munich Re, and Dieffenbacher GmbH & Co.KG.
- Moderator, Professionalism in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Atlanta Bar Association Construction Section CLE program, March 2006.
- Speaker, Basic Issues Concerning Dispute Resolution, Technology Association of Georgia, International Section, Atlanta, Georgia, May 2003.
- Speaker, The Assault on the Citadel: Judicial and Legislative Attacks on Arbitration Agreements in the United States, Center for International Legal Studies, Heidelberg, Germany, May 2003.
- Panelist, Discovery Abuse in Georgia, Georgia Institute for Continuing Legal Education, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, November 2002.
- Speaker, Current Perspectives on Alternative Dispute Resolution, McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP, 2001.
John has also provided presentations to clients on the U.S. legal system, ADR, and numerous specific subjects, including confidentiality agreements and trade secrets, contractual terms and conditions, and insurance coverage issues.
Publications
- Mediation in Construction Cases: Pros, Cons, and Some Thoughts for the General Practitioner, Institute for Continuing Legal Education Seminar Materials, September 28, 2007
- ADR: A Practitioner’s View of a Changing Landscape, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, August, 2006, p. 30 (interview)
- Co-Author and Editor, Basic Legal Considerations in Doing Business in the United States and the State of Georgia, German/English brochure, January 2006 (McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP)
- Controlling Risk Through Dispute Resolution Provisions, AWH Knows Construction Newsletter, January 1, 2005
- Mediation as a Means to Resolve Intellectual Property Disputes, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, August 2004
- Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution in International Transactions in the United States, Management.de website, November 2003
- Open Questions Regarding Non-Party Discovery in Commercial Arbitration, Mealey’s International Arbitration Report, July 2003.
- Current Perspectives on Alternative Dispute Resolution, Program Materials on Information Technology Litigation (December 10, 2002)
- Co-Author, Product Liability Tort Reform: The Case for Federal Action, 63 Neb. L. Rev. 389 (1984)
- Co-Author, “Communication with Absent Class Members: Why Free Speech Should Prevail,” Program Materials for Ninth Annual Fall Meeting, Section of Litigation, American Bar Association (October 25-27, 1984)
Back to Top
