Officers

The officers of the Gate City Bar include highly trained professionals with extensive experience and training in legal techniques, analysis, and real negotiations. Click to view our Past Presidents

THOMAS G. “WOODY” SAMPSON, II - PRESIDENT

Thomas G. Sampson, II, (“Woody”), is a partner with Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Patterson LLP, Georgia’s oldest minority-owned law firm. A trial lawyer, Woody regularly represents Fortune 500 companies, individuals and governmental entities in various types of complex legal matters. He has a wide variety of experience, having been involved in trying more than 100 cases in the civil and criminal arena. 

Woody has worked as a plaintiff’s attorney, trying multi-million dollar personal injury cases, as well as a defense attorney, defending major corporations against multi-million dollar lawsuits. He has thirteen (13) years of experience in medical malpractice, personal injury and wrongful death, premises liability, consumer warranty, and other general civil litigation matters. Woody has tried cases for the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, the Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (“MARTA”), Ford Motor Company, State Farm Insurance, as well as others.

In addition to his trial experience, Woody has served as General Counsel to the Fulton County Board of Ethics for the past eight (8) years. As Counsel to the Board of Ethics, Woody has advised the Board on numerous complaints that have come before them concerning ethical violations of Fulton County elected officials and employees of Fulton County. He has authored all of the requests for advisory opinions for the past eight (8) years from individuals who sought to determine whether their prospective conduct constituted an ethical violation. Woody has represented and advised City of Atlanta elected officials on various matters including a GBI investigation of election impropriety.

Woody is a graduate of Morehouse College and holds a Doctorate of Law degree from the University of Georgia. Woody is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, and is currently President of the Gate City Bar Association. He has formerly served as President-Elect, Vice-President, and member-at-large of the Gate City Bar Association. He has served as Board Chairman of the Southwest Coalition of Concerned Citizens. He is also a Board member of Planned Parenthood of Georgia, Inc. In 2007 Woody was inducted as a Charter Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America. This trial honorary is by invitation and consists of less than one percent (1%) of trial lawyers in America. He has served as a Barrister of the Logan E. Bleckely, American Inn of Courts. Woody has served as an Examiner for the Georgia Bar Exam from 1999-2002. He is also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

SHUKURA L. INGRAM – VICE PRESIDENT

Shukura L. Ingram is an Associate in the Litigation Section of Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Patterson LLP. Her principal areas of practice include wrongful death, personal injury, medical malpractice, insurance defense, premises liability and contractual relations.

Shukura received her J.D. from Georgia State University College of Law in 1998 and her B.A. in English from Clark Atlanta University in 1995. While in law school, Shukura was President of the Association of Women Law Students, GSU representative for the American Bar Association, member of the Moot Court Board and a Kimberly Dawson-Blanton Scholarship Recipient. In the summer of 1996, Shukura completed a course in International Commercial Arbitration at JOHANNES-KEPLER UNIVERSITÄT in LINZ, AUSTRIA.

Shukura began her career as an Assistant Solicitor for the City Court of Atlanta where she first gained jury trial experience. After leaving the Solicitor’s Office, she joined the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, where she served for six years as an Assistant District Attorney. During her tenure in the district attorney’s office, Shukura was lead trial counsel on various matters, most notably specializing in homicide and high-profile cases. 

Currently, Shukura is the Vice-President of the Gate City Bar Association. She is also a member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys and the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers. She was appointed by Mayor Shirley Franklin to serve on the Atlanta Judicial Commission in 2005 and is a board member of the Centennial Place YMCA. She has been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Shukura has been recognized as a young lawyer “On The Rise” for 2007 by the Fulton County Daily Report.

WILLIE J. LOVETT, JR.- PRESIDENT-ELECT

Willie J. Lovett, Jr. currently serves as the Deputy County Attorney for the Fulton County Attorney’s Office. In that role, he manages all aspects of Fulton County’s litigation performed by staff attorneys and outside counsel. Fulton County’s litigation practice includes employment, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, governmental contract, taxation, tax sales, tax assessment, zoning, land use, environmental, construction, constitutional, First Amendment, Section 1983, and bankruptcy matters. He also provides day to day legal advice to the Judicial branch of Fulton County Government, which includes all Judges, the District Attorney’s Office, the Solicitor General’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, the Clerk of Superior Court and the Clerk of State Court. Prior to joining the Fulton County Attorney’s Office, Willie clerked for the Honorable Joseph W. Hatchett, former Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and served as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Atlanta’s Law Department, as well as an associate at Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, Ford & Harrison, LLP and Troutman Sanders, LLP.

In 1985, Willie earned his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, cum laude with Distinction in the major from Yale University, where he received the 1985 Roosevelt Thompson Prize for commitment to public service. In 1988, Willie earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he served as a Comments Editor on the HARVARD CIVIL RIGHTS-CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW REVIEW, and in 1991, he earned his Master of Laws in Litigation from Emory Law School. Willie actively practices in the United States Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, various Superior Courts in the metro Atlanta area and also is admitted to practice in the Middle District of Georgia.

Willie currently serves as President-Elect of the Gate City Bar Association, and has served as a member of the Gate City Bar Association Executive Board for the last four years. Additionally, Willie is a member Atlanta Bar Association. Willie is a native of Savannah, Georgia, and is married to Seletha R. Butler, Esq.

RENEE Y. LITTLE- SECRETARY

Renee Y. Little is an associate with the civil litigation firm of Carlock Copeland Semler & Stair, LLP. Within the civil litigation arena, her practice includes commercial transportation, commercial litigation, premises liability and medical malpractice in State and Federal Court actions. A significant portion of her practice involves defending corporations and individuals in actions involving catastrophic injury and wrongful death. 

Renee earned her Bachelor of Arts Degrees at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana in the areas of Political Science and English Compensation. She later earned her Master of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice at Clark Atlanta University, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia School of Law. She is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, and is currently Secretary of the Gate City Bar Association. Renee's professional and civic memberships also include the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, Atlanta Bar Association and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She also served as a Barrister with the Joseph Henry Lumpkin American Inn of Court. 

TIFFANY CARTER SELLERS- ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Tiffany C. Sellers is an associate in the Litigation Section of Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Patterson LLP. Her principal areas of practice include general civil litigation, insurance defense, products liability, medical malpractice, and premises liability.

Tiffany received her B.A. in Political Science, summa cum laude, from South Carolina State University in May 2003. She received her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law in May 2006, where she served as the Managing Editor of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law during the 2005 school year and as an Editorial Board Member during the 2004 school year. Additionally, Tiffany was a member of the Order of the Barristers, Joseph Henry Lumpkin American Inn of Court, and the Black Law Students Association. Tiffany was a participant in the University of Georgia School of Law’s Mock Trial Program and her team was the 2006 National Champion of the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition.

Tiffany has been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Georgia, as well as the Georgia Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She is also a member of the Georgia Bar Association and the Gate City Bar Association.

EDTORA JONES-TREASURER

Ed Jones currently practices with The Cuffie Law Firm in Atlanta, Georgia. He represents plaintiffs in serious injury and wrongful death cases. Prior to joining CLF, Ed was an associate attorney with the civil litigation defense firm Owen, Gleaton, Egan, Jones & Sweeney, LLP where he represented physicians and medical facilities in medical negligence cases. Ed also formerly served as a Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Myra H. Dixon of the State Court of Fulton County where he managed all aspects of the Court’s Civil Docket and assisted the Court in criminal motions hearings and trials.

Ed earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Morehouse College in 1997 receiving honors in Chemistry. While at Morehouse, Ed also received a Bonner Scholarship for his service to the community prior to and throughout his matriculation at Morehouse. He received his Juris Doctor from Georgia State University College of Law in 2002.

Ed is a native of Atlanta and is involved several civic and professional organizations including participation in the Perkinson Elementary School Reading Program which mentors elementary school boys in reading. Ed is also a member of American Association of Justice and Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.

R. GARY SPENCER- HISTORIAN

Gary Spencer, a past President and Board Member of Gate City, grew up in Paterson, N.J. and received his undergraduate and law degrees from Howard University, Washington, DC. Gary then moved to Miami, Florida, in 1985 where he started his career as an attorney with Legal Services of Greater Miami and in 1987 moved to the Dade County Public Defender’s office. In 1992 Gary moved to Atlanta and worked in the Fulton County Public Defender’s Office and the Federal Defender Program until 1997 when he opened his private law practice. Gary’s practice areas include state and federal criminal law, personal injury and small business matters. He is a member of First Congregational Church, U.C.C. , Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (Former Interim Exec. Director) ,Atlanta Bar Association, State Bar of Georgia, Election Protection Committee, Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys Foundation, Coalition for a Free South Africa (Miami, FL), Youth Soccer Coach, Hosea Williams Feed the Hungry (MLK day project), Hands on Atlanta (MLK day projects), and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Gary is married to Beckie (Myers) Spencer and has one son, Nelson Spencer, who is a student at Wheeler High School in Marietta. His dog, Thunder, has been his companion for 9 years.

Married Beckie (Myers) Spencer on July 10, 2005. Son, Nelson Spencer is a 17-year old junior at Wheeler High School in Marietta. Thunder, my dog, has been my companion for 9 years.

MEMBERS –AT- LARGE

JONATHAN D. GOINS

Jonathan D. Goins is an attorney practicing trademarks, trade secrets, and other intellectual property matters involving unfair competition, franchising, and contractual advice. He is currently associated with Kilpatrick Stockton LLP’s Trademark Group. Jonathan has served as counsel to major corporations including Adidas, Chrysler, Diageo, Honda, The Coca-Cola Company, and UPS in matters across the country involving strategy and protection of trademarks, trademark litigation, misappropriation of trade secrets, patent litigation, and IP contractual drafting and enforcement of franchise distribution agreements, licenses, and non-compete/confidential non-disclosure agreements.

Jonathan is a frequent guest speaker for bar-sponsored panels, and has co-authored legal publications including “The Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 – A Purported Win For Owners Of Famous Trademarks” (State Bar of Georgia’s IP Law Section Newsletter (Dec. 2006), Nat’l Bar Ass’n Commercial Law Section Newsletter (vol. 4, winter 2007)). 

Jonathan devotes a portion of his practice to providing pro bono service, having received King & Spalding Pro Bono Service Awards (2005, 2006) for his involvement in several projects for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, and the Southern Center For Human Rights. He has been active in numerous professional and community endeavors with organizations including the American Bar Association’s CLEO (Council on Legal Education Opportunity)/Thurgood Marshall Program; Each One-Reach One Community Impact Project; R.I.S.E. (Reading Inspires Student Excellence) Program; Excellence Academy School (founding board member); Young Lawyers For Obama-Atlanta Chapter (steering committee member); and Silver Starr Art Studios (IP Counsel for DC-based philanthropic arts/entertainment company). 

Jonathan has been selected for the Leadership Academy Class of 2008 (State Bar of Georgia’s Young Lawyers Division), a program that brings together a select group of approximately 40 young lawyers from across the state to meet with leaders in various areas of the legal practice including bar leadership, judges and legislators. Mr. Goins has been recognized in Who’s Who In Black Atlanta (Dec. 2007) and Who’s Who In American Law (July 2007), and is a member of the National Bar Association (IP Section) and State Bar of Georgia (IP, Sports/Entertainment Sections). 

For the 2002-2003 term, Jonathan was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Inez Smith Reid, District of Columbia Court of Appeals. In 2002, he received his J.D. from Howard University School of Law, where he was a Merit Scholar, Honorable H. Carl Moultrie Award recipient, Howard Law Journal (Notes & Comments Editor), and three-time mock trial competition participant for the nationally-ranked Huver I. Brown Trial Advocacy Team.

ASHA JACKSON

Asha Jackson is a partner at the law firm of Carlock, Copeland, Semler, and Stair, LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. Her primary areas of practice are health care and general litigation. As a member of the health care team, Asha represents several medical schools and institutions throughout the state of Georgia as well as individual health care practitioners. She assists clients with risk management and compliance and represents them in various capacities before all of the trial and appellate courts of the State of Georgia and before various licensing entities. As a litigator, Asha has tried and successfully resolved a number of cases and has been instrumental in a number of high profile cases, most notably her representation of a funeral home in class action litigation stemming from a North Georgia crematory operator's failure to cremate numerous bodies and her representation of Ray Lewis, an NFL player involved in a civil suit related to the death of two individuals after the super bowl in Atlanta. Asha is a member of the National Order of Baristers, the American Bar Association, Atlanta Bar Association, and the American Health Lawyers Association.

Asha has published a number of articles in various publications including the ALM Law Journal and the Defense Research Institute and she has lectured to various medical professionals. Outside of the office, Asha is very active in her community. She is a founding member of the Atlanta Urban League Young Professionals (AULYP), an auxiliary of the Urban League which is the oldest economic empowerment organization in the country. Additionally, Asha is a hearing officer for the Bureau of Taxicabs and Vehicles for Hire, a division of the Atlanta Police Department and the City of Atlanta, and she is a board member of the Atlanta Coordination Responsible Authority (ACORA), where she participates in the administration of HUD funding to provide commercial revitalization in designated census tracts in Atlanta with pervasive poverty, unemployment, and distress. Asha also serves on the boards of Planned Parenthood of Georgia, A Crystal Stair, Inc., City of Hope Ministries, and she is a Deacon at her church --Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia. In 2006, Asha was recognized and honored as one of 10 Outstanding Young Atlantans by the "Outstanding Atlanta" Organization, and she is a charter fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation only trial lawyer honorary society composed of only one-half of one percent of American Lawyers.

DAWN JONES

Dawn Jones is a senior associate in King & Spalding's Tort and Environmental Practice Group. Dawn recently served as an Associate General Counsel for the Grady Health System, which engages over 5,800 employees. Prior to that position, Dawn served as an associate in the Atlanta office of King & Spalding, where she defended pharmaceutical and tobacco product manufacturers in state and federal courts throughout the southeastern United States (2003-2005), and as an associate in the Atlanta office of Cozen O'Connor, where her hands-on practice focused on nursing/medical malpractice and premises liability insurance defense, and insurance coverage issues (2000-2003). Prior to practicing law, Dawn was an ICU registered nurse, gaining more than a decade of critical care nursing experience. 

Dawn is a member of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (Past President), Atlanta Legal Aid Society (Board of Directors), Atlanta Bar Association Continuing Legal Education (Board of Directors), Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism, Women and Minorities in the Profession Committee of the State Bar of Georgia, Volunteer Training Coordinator for the Georgia Election Protection Legal Coordinating Committee, Atlanta Bar Foundation (Board of Directors), Multi-Bar Leadership Council, Atlanta Bar Association Law School Outreach Committee, Advisory Council to the Health Law Partnership , Atlanta Bar Association's Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers. Dawn has been recognized by Atlanta Magazine in Georgia Super Lawyers "Rising Star", 2005 and 2007, the Atlanta Business Chronicle's "Who's Who in the Law" (2004 and 2005), the Atlanta Bar Association Distinguished Service Award (2007), the Georgia State University College of Law Alumni Service to BLSA Award (2007), Atlanta Bar Foundation Charter Lifetime Fellow (2006), Lawyers Foundation of Georgia Fellow (2006).

Dawn is admitted to practice in all State Courts and Supreme Court of Georgia and the Northern District of Georgia. She holds nursing licenses in Virginia, the District of Columbia and Georgia. She received her B.S. at the University of Virginia, her M.S. at Georgetown University and her J.D. at Georgia State University.

CHERYL F. TURNER

Cheryl F. Turner, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, is Counsel for The Coca-Cola Company in its Coca-Cola North America division, focusing on promotion and marketing law. 

Cheryl graduated from Emory University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and International Studies. Before beginning law school, Cheryl worked in the non-profit sector with Hands on Atlanta and AmeriCorps, a national service program.

In 1999, Cheryl graduated from the Emory University School of Law, where she was a Woodruff Scholar, served as President of the Emory Black Law Students Association, and as an Emory Law School Ambassador.

Cheryl began her legal career as a commercial real estate associate with Troutman Sanders, LLP where she worked on a variety of real estate matters. Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Cheryl was a real estate and corporate associate with the firm of Thomas, Kennedy, Sampson and Patterson. 

In addition to participating in the Gate City Bar, Cheryl serves on the Executive Committee of the National Bar Association Commercial Law Section and the Black Law Students Advisory Committee at Emory University School of Law. 

CHRISTOPHER WARD

Christopher E. Ward is a senior staff attorney with the Georgia Power Company. His practice area focuses on eminent domain litigation and real estate law matters that support projects in the land acquisition, transmission construction, land sales, and land management departments of Georgia Power. A native of Atlanta, Chris received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College in 1993. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law, and became licensed to practice law in 1998.

Chris began his career as a public defender with the Fulton County Public Defender’s Office. In 2000, he joined the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted felony cases in various units of the office, including the trial and narcotics units. In 2002, Chris was named Chief Senior A.D.A. and Director of the Illegal Firearms Unit, the first specialized unit responsible for firearms prosecution in Fulton County. Under his leadership, the unit received the 2004 Outstanding Partnership Award from the United States Department of Justice. In 2005, Chris was named Community Prosecutor for Zone 3. As community prosecutor, Chris acted as a liaison between law enforcement, residents, and the business community in a collaborative effort to successfully prosecute career criminals. During his tenure at the D.A.’s office, Chris participated in the Legal Lives Intervention program and the Junior D.A.’s program, where he lectured youth about the consequences of criminal behavior and the rewards of good conduct.

Chris has been an active member of the Gate City Bar Association since 2004. He’s served on the Hall of Fame selection and scholarship committees and the Foundation Board between 2005 and 2007. Chris’ numerous volunteer activities have included serving on the Board of Directors of the John Harlan Boys and Girls Club; mentoring in the Brother to Brother program; and tutoring at A.D. Williams Elementary School. Chris is president of the Regency Park Homeowner’s Association, a member of Cascade United Methodist Church and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. Chris is married to Meka Brumfield Ward (former secretary and member-at-large of the Gate City Bar Association), an associate at Chestney-Hawkins Law firm. They are the proud parents of Linda Christina. 

HAROLD FRANKLIN- IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Harold E. Franklin, Jr. joined King & Spalding in 2000 and is a partner with the firm’s Tort and Environmental Law Practice Group, which was selected by The American Lawyer in 2004 as one of the top three in the country and by Chambers in 2005 and 2006 as one of the top six. His practice focuses on complex and high-stakes product liability litigation. Harold has served as counsel for a number of the country’s largest automotive, pharmaceutical, beverage, and package delivery companies and has been actively involved in a multitude of matters throughout the continental United States and abroad. In 2004, Harold was selected by General Motors Corporation to serve as in-house counsel for the corporation’s product litigation group. Harold has utilized his fluency in Spanish in his law practice in matters in Puerto Rico, Europe and South America. 

Harold is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Membership in this preeminent group of lawyers is comprised of less than 1% of the lawyers in the nation. In addition, Harold was the 2006 recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award, presented by the Black Law Students’ Association at the Annual Bench and Bar Reception at the Georgia State University College of Law. Harold has been listed in Georgia Trend magazine’s Legal Elite as a leading lawyer in his practice area and also as a Georgia Super Lawyer.

Harold is a 1990 graduate of Emory University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Spanish. After Emory, Harold served as Vice President for an insurance brokerage firm specializing in group benefit plans for many of the nation’s leading insurance companies. Harold received his Juris Doctor from Georgia State University School of Law in 1999. 

At King & Spalding, Harold has served on the Hiring Committee and on the firm’s Diversity Committee. In addition, Harold played a primary role in helping institute King & Spalding’s involvement in Mayor Shirley Franklin’s Mayor’s Youth Program, which provides scholarships and mentoring for underprivileged students to attend college. 

In addition to his active practice, Harold has engaged in numerous pro bono and community service endeavors in his service to the community and bar, including providing pro bono legal representation to the community through the Truancy Intervention Project, which provides early positive intervention with children reported as truants, and the Dispossessory Project, an eviction defense program provided through the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. He has also served on the Georgia chapter of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in connection with the non-partisan Election Protection coalition and has recently become a member of the National Board of the organization. 

Harold is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association (serving on the Board of Governors and as the Director of Region 11), the American Bar Foundation, the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, the Lawyers’ Club of Atlanta, and serves on the Executive Board of the Georgia Diversity Program Committee (of the State Bar of Georgia). 

During his tenure as President in 2007 of The Gate City Bar Association he founded the Gate City Justice Robert Benham Law Camp, the organization’s intensive institutional outreach program designed to foster and increase diversity in the legal profession by exposing local high school students to the study of the law and exposure to career opportunities in the legal profession. He has also served as chair of the Scholarship Committee of the Gate City Hall of Fame program. During his tenure as President, Gate City served as the official host of the most well attended National Bar Association Convention in the history of the organization.