Tom is a member of Butler Snow’s Products, Catastrophic & Industrial Litigation Group. He is passionate about partnering with businesses to help them mitigate risk and maximize business operations that lead to market opportunities. Tom is a true business partner who has handled dozens of crisis management situations and interfaced with many federal and state agencies in both civil and criminal matters. His experience includes regularly conducting internal investigations, implementing strategies to minimize crisis and catastrophic events, and leading response and defense of crisis matters.
Overview
Tom is a member of Butler Snow’s Products, Catastrophic & Industrial Litigation Group. He is passionate about partnering with businesses to help them mitigate risk and maximize business operations that lead to market opportunities. Tom is a true business partner who has handled dozens of crisis management situations and interfaced with many federal and state agencies in both civil and criminal matters. His experience includes regularly conducting internal investigations, implementing strategies to minimize crisis and catastrophic events, and leading response and defense of crisis matters.
Practice Areas
Experience
- Designed and implemented multiple compliance and ethics policies and procedures for a wide range of organizations, including nonprofit, privately held, and publicly traded organizations.
- Regularly conducts internal investigations for companies and provides advice on reporting obligations and representation throughout all phases of government investigations.
- Significant crisis management experience leading response and investigations in all significant regulatory matters including over 75 fatal and serious injuries.
- Led defense of liquid pipeline operator in multiple defensive personal injury and property damage claims arising from 2016 pipeline release and subsequent separate explosion and fire.
- Investigated numerous allegations of non-compliant behavior, including antitrust, foreign corrupt practices act, product stewardship, environmental matters, department of transportation regulations, False Claims Act, and whistleblower protection.
- Developed strategies, including employee communications, to transform 600+ inside sales team members from improperly classified exempt status to non-exempt without legal challenge.
- Led OSHA 300-log recordkeeping investigation and audit and managed correction of over 500 entries without government challenge.
- Managed sale of Russian assets in compliance with US, EU and UK sanctions after Ukraine invasion.
Distinctions
- Georgia Trend
- Legal Elite, 2007, 2008
- Served as U.S. delegate to the 5th United States-European Union Joint Conference on Occupational Safety and Health.
Bar Admissions
- Georgia, 1996
- Colorado, 1994
Education
- St. Louis University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1994
- Notes/Comments Editor, Law Journal
- Two-time American Jurisprudence Award Recipient
- University of Illinois, M.A., 1988
- Institute of Labor & Industrial Relations
- Suny College at Geneseo, B.S., 1986
Associations
- American Bar Association
Civic Involvement
- Legal Mentor Network
- Forgotten Harvest, Community Volunteer
- St. Benedict’s Episcopal Day School, Former Board Member
- St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church, Senior Warden