Craig Cleland defends employers in litigation—including in class actions—and counsels them on compliance and risk management.  He is also Co-Chair of the Firm’s Class Action Practice Group.  Craig is named in Best Lawyers in America, Atlanta Magazine’s “Super Lawyers,” Georgia Trend’s “Legal Elite,” and Chambers USA’s Leading Business Lawyers.  He is a contributor to the new editions of Black’s Law Dictionary, Garner’s Modern American Usage, and Lindemann & Grossman’s Employment Discrimination Law.  And he teaches Employment Discrimination Law as an Adjunct Professor at Georgia State University College of Law.  Recently, Craig was recognized as a BTI Client Service All-Star, one of 165 lawyers in the U.S. who “combine exceptional legal expertise with practical advice, business savvy and creative, effective solutions.”

During law school, Craig was the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review and winner of the McKenzie-McPhail Moot Court Competition.  After graduating, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Shoob in Atlanta.  He has also completed the Harvard Law School Mediation Program.  And he has served on several Atlanta-area nonprofit boards, including as chair.

J.D., cum laude, Georgia State University, 1992
S.T.M., with honors, Yale University, 1983
M. Div., with honors, Vanderbilt University, 1981 (Folkerth Scholar)
B.A., cum laude, Valdosta State University, 1978

Georgia, 1993
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuits
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. District Court, Middle, Northern and Southern Districts of Georgia