Plaintiff's Personal Injury

Mr. Douglas Campbell Dumont Related Seminars and Products

Ausband & Dumont

Like the other professionals at the Ausband & Dumont, Doug strives to be the best both inside and outside the courtroom. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1998 with a degree in Political Science and then earned his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law. Doug has recovered over $40,000,000 for his clients and looks forward to helping more people and families who who have been injured by another's bad decisions. He has successfully won settlements and trials for clients in state and federal courts throughout the southeast, and his appellate record is unbeaten.

Doug was a SuperLawyer Rising Star in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, and a SuperLawyer 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. He was also nominated to the Georgia Verdicts Hall of Fame in 2014 for a single verdict over $20,000,000!

Outside the courtroom, Doug spends a significant amount of time speaking with other lawyers throughout the United States. He has chaired or co-chaired the Plaintiffs Personal Injury CLE for eight years, which is broadcast to hundreds of lawyers throughout Georgia. Doug is also the author of a chapter in Thompson-Wests Handling Motor Vehicle Accident Cases publication. He is an active member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and the American Association for Justice.

When Doug is away from the office, he enjoys spending most of his time with his wife and three children going to football games, fishing, traveling to their cottage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and serving on his church’s congregational council. 

Mrs. Tabitha Ponder Related Seminars and Products

Miles Mediation & Arbitration

Tabitha Ponder earned a B.S. degree in Psychology from Albany State University in 1996 and a J.D. from Mercer University School of Law in 1999. She began her legal career as an Insurance Defense Attorney. In 2007, she became the Founder/Managing Attorney of the Ponder Law Group, LLC, a statewide litigation firm. She is now a part-time Cobb County Magistrate Court Judge and a certified Civil/Domestic Relations Mediator and Arbitrator.

Ms. Ponder is recognized statewide for her expertise and commitment to improving access to justice. She currently serves as the contracted Staff Attorney for Georgia Judicial Council’s Access to Justice Committee under the leadership of Justice Verda Colvin, and She was recently appointed to staff the Judicial Council’s new Ad Hoc Committee on Improving Community Access to Legal Resources. She was appointed to serve as Special Master for Cobb County Superior Court in 2017.  Ms. Ponder also previously taught as an Adjunct Professor for seven years at Albany State University.

She is a member of the Georgia Bar Association and Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys. She also serves as a Board Member of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers. Her service also extends to the Cobb County Bar Association, Gate City Bar Association, the Cobb County Branch NAACP, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Mr. Andrew Carmichael Ausband Related Seminars and Products

Ausband Firm

Andy Ausband is the owner and founder of Ausband & Dumont. Andy's expertise is in representing clients who have suffered serious injuries or death due to the carelessness or neglect of others. Andy represents clients in trucking, nursing home abuse, motor vehicle collision, medical and pharmacy malpractice, and premises liability cases.  He has also represented families of small children with unique injuries, resulting in brain damage and paralysis. 

Andy received his B.A. in finance from the University of Georgia in 1986. He earned his J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1989. Andy is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Association for Justice, and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.  

Hon. Sara Lynn Doyle Related Seminars and Products

Georgia Court of Appeals

Presiding Judge Sara L. Doyle was elected to the Georgia Court of Appeals in December, 2008 and took office on January 1, 2009. In 2014 and 2020, she was elected to her second and third six- year term. From July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2017, Judge Doyle was the Court’s Chief Judge where she was instrumental in implementing a historic jurisdiction shift of cases from the Supreme Court and the addition of a new fifth division adding three more judges to the Court, and funding

and design of the new Nathan Deal Judicial Center. Judge Doyle has also sat by designation on the Supreme Court of Georgia and on Georgia’s State-wide Business Court.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Judge Doyle lived in several states before entering the University of Florida where she graduated in 1990 with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration.  In 1994, she graduated cum laude from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law where she was a member of the Mercer Law Review.  Judge Doyle was admitted to the Georgia Bar in June 1994 and began her legal career as a civil litigator with Wilson, Strickland & Benson, P.C. Just prior to taking office, she was an equity partner with the national law firm of Holland & Knight, LLP where she practiced law with a focus on education issues since August 2000.

As a practicing attorney, Judge Doyle received an A.V. peer-reviewed rating from Martindale Hubbell. She was selected as a Georgia Super Lawyer from 2004 to 2008, and in 2006 and 2008, was named one of the top 50 female attorneys in Georgia. She has also been recognized as one of Georgia’s legal elite by Georgia Trend Magazine. Additional honors include:

• Atlanta Bar Association Professionalism Award, 2013
• University of Florida Women’s Inaugural Leadership, 2011
• Honorary Member, Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, 2009
• ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Leadership Academy, 2006 to 2007
• Atlanta Regional Commission Leadership Institute, 2004
• Leadership Midtown, 1999

Judge Doyle is involved in many professional, civic, and religious organizations. She is an active member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Judicial Council of Georgia, the American Bar Association, the Atlanta Bar Association, the National Association of Women Judges, the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers (GAWL), the Gate City Bar Association, the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys (GABWA), and the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, where she held the position of President in 2012-2013 and was a member of the club’s executive committee from 2003 to July, 2013. Additional and more specified activities include:

Mercer University

• Board of Trustees, 2015 to 2020
• Search Committee for Dean of Walter F. George School of Law, 2017
• Board of Visitors, Walter F. George School of Law, 2012 to 2015

Emory University

• Board of Visitors 2010 to 2013
• Executive Board, 2011 to 2013
• Lamar Inn of Court, Master, 2009 to present
• Executive Board, 2014 to 2018
• Law School Trial Advocacy Professionalism Programs Faculty

State of Georgia Appellate Jurisdiction Review Commission, October 2015 to January 2016

Georgia Supreme Court/Judicial Council of Georgia

• Strategic Plan Implementation Committee
• Chair, 2014 to 2016, July 2019 to present
• Co-Chair, July 2017 to June 2019
• Access, Fairness & Public Trust & Confidence Committee, February 2016 to June 2018
• Commission on Dispute Resolution, 2010 to 2016
• Court Reporting Matters Committee
• Chair, July 2013 to June 2015
• Search Committee for the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, 2015
• Next Generation Courts Commission, 2012 to 2014

State Bar of Georgia

• Law Related Education Committee, Member, July 2009 to June 2017
• Chair, 2014 to 2017
• Bench and Bar Committee, 2015 to 2017
• Commission on the Unlicensed Practice of Law, August 2007 to August 2013
• Vice Chair, September 2008 to October 2011
• Chair, October 2011 to August 2013

Atlanta Bar Association, 1999 to present

• Innovation Study Group Standing Committee
• Co-Chair, August 2019 to present
• Judicial Section, 2008 to present
• Chair, 2014 to 2015
• Editorial Board, July 2008 to June 2014
• Co-Chair, 2011 to 2014
• Membership Committee, 2013 to 2016
• Bard Show, 1999 to present
• Assistant Director

National Association of Women Judges, 2008 to present

• District 5 Chair, October 2016 to October 2018
• Annual Conference Co-Chair, 2016 to 2017

Gate City Bar Association, 2008 to present

• Judicial Section Executive Board Member-at-Large, 2013

Georgia Association of Women Lawyers

• Advisory Board member

Lawyers Club of Atlanta, 1999 to present

• Executive Board Member, 2003 to 2014
• President, July 2012 to June 2013

Judge Doyle has also participated as a Hands On Atlanta Day team leader, an American Cancer Society Neighborhood fundraiser, as co-chair for her law firm’s United Way Committee and a volunteer for the Georgia Volunteer Lawyer for the Arts. Recently, she has acted as a team leader for the Court’s participation in the Georgia Legal Food Frenzy and volunteers at her children’s schools.

Judge Doyle is married to attorney, Jay Doyle, and they have two children, Mary Donovan and Davis.

Mr. John David Hadden Related Seminars and Products

Penn Law LLC

John D. Hadden is a trial and appellate litigator with Penn Law in Atlanta, where he handles catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases across the state. He is author of Georgia Law of Torts - Trial Preparation and Practice and Green's Georgia Law of Evidence, both published by Thomson Reuters. He is also a registered mediator with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution. John is president of the Atlanta Trial Lawyers Association, a member of the Atlanta Bar Association Board of Directors and past chair of the Atlanta Bar’s Litigation Section, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Atlanta Bar Lawyer Referral and Information Service, and a past chair of the Litigation Committee of the State Bar of Georgia’s Young Lawyers Division. John is a graduate of Emory University and the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was a member of the Georgia Law Review. John has been named one of Georgia’s “Legal Elite” by Georgia Trend, recognized by Atlanta Magazine in its annual list of Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers, and holds an AV/Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell. He has also been recognized by the Fulton County Daily Report as one of its “On the Rise — Top 40 Under 40.”

Mr. David Neal Lefkowitz Related Seminars and Products

The Lefkowitz Firm LLC

David Lefkowitz graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. and earned his J.D. from Emory University School of Law. The Lefkowitz Firm, LLC, represents individuals and corporations in their claims for legal malpractice (legal negligence) and similar claims such as breach of fiduciary duty, executor misconduct and ethical misconduct by attorneys and other fiduciaries. The firm also represents attorneys and law firms with regard to risk management and attorney’s fee disputes. David is an adjunct professor of legal malpractice law, ethics, and risk management at the University of Georgia School of Law and is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars. David has offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Athens, Georgia.   

Mr. Darl Hilton Champion Jr. Related Seminars and Products

The Champion Firm PC

Darl Champion is the founder of The Champion Firm, a personal injury practice that focuses on a variety of serious injury and wrongful death cases. The firm has recovered numerous settlements of a million dollars or more in cases involving car and truck wrecks, premises liability claims, and medical malpractice. Darl’s recent successes include a $17 million wrongful death settlement against MARTA, a $10.2 million settlement involving a car wreck, and a $5 million commercial vehicle settlement.

Darl is originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he grew up and attended college at Methodist University. After college, he attended Mercer for law school, where he was a member of the Mercer Law Review, the Moot Court Board, and graduated second in his class. After obtaining his law degree in 2007, Darl spent two years clerking for The Honorable Hugh Lawson in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Darl started The Champion Firm in 2014 after spending 4 years at a plaintiff’s firm in Atlanta, where he focused on catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases. Since 2014, The Champion Firm has recovered over $100 million for its clients. Darl has been recognized by Georgia Super Lawyers as a Rising Star and a Super Lawyer, and he has been named to Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite list. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

Ms. Samantha Jill Funt Related Seminars and Products

Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt LLP

Samantha Funt serves as Partner at Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt LLP and is dedicated to zealous advocacy on behalf of victims of wrongdoing. An experienced litigator, Samantha focuses her practice on wrongful death and catastrophic injury in the areas of civil rights, negligent security and medical malpractice – providing counsel at the most critical times. Representative civil rights cases include excessive force, wrongful arrest and prosecution, first amendment violations, prison and jail violence, and medical neglect while in custody. 

Samantha has secured life changing multi-million-dollar settlements for her clients in a variety of matters. This includes her work as lead counsel in a carbon monoxide brain injury case, a medical malpractice case for the overdose of a disabled child, and in numerous civil rights matters for constitutional violations at hands of government officials. Samantha co-counsels with attorneys across the country and values the energy and impact of a varied litigation team. Samantha has been recognized by her peers through selection to the Georgia Trial Lawyer Association’s LEAD Program and also as a Super Lawyers Rising Star.

Her background stems from years of experience representing defendants in negligence and wrongful death actions, giving her intimate knowledge of the way these cases are defended. Prior to joining MSGF, Samantha was a trial attorney in a large national law firm where she handled an expansive caseload in state and federal courts and represented domestic and international clients in areas including premises liability, negligent security, construction defects, products liability, commercial litigation and intellectual property rights.

A trial lawyer at heart, she began her career as a criminal defense attorney with the Miami-Dade County Public Defender’s Office. There, Samantha represented hundreds of clients in juvenile, domestic violence and felony courts. She has litigated criminal charges ranging from misdemeanors to life felonies including murder, drug trafficking, sexual battery, aggravated battery, and robbery, has tried 25 jury trials and has litigated constitutional and evidentiary motions. She has fought against excessive and illegal uses of force, unconstitutional arrests, and police and prison abuses including collaborating with the ACLU. Samantha passionately brings these experiences to her work at MSGF, fighting for those whose rights have been violated by law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

A graduate of the George Washington University Law School, Samantha served as a GW Writing Fellow, VP of the GW Mock Trial Board, and as a student attorney for the GW Public Justice Advocacy Clinic.

Samantha is a multifaceted leader and valued friend in her community. With a degree in music performance from Emory University, she has played as a cellist in community orchestras and enjoys being an active part of the Atlanta music community.

She loves spending time outside and exploring nature with her husband, Eric Funt, and their two young daughters. You can email her directly at sam@mitchellshapiro.com.

Ms. Tedra L. Cannella Related Seminars and Products

Cannella Snyder LLC

Tedra (pronounced “Tee-dra”) has a practice that focuses on products liability, breach of fiduciary duty, wrongful death, and trucking and automobile wrecks. She has successfully represented people all over the country against corporations, including Fortune 500 Companies and large insurance companies. She is a fierce advocate for her clients, with multimillion dollar verdicts and settlements in cases throughout the southeast.

She lives in Lake Claire with her daughter Ella and her dog Livvy.  In her free time she plans her next trip and is learning to play the piano. 

Ms. Alison Lee Currie Related Seminars and Products

Lavender Hoffman Alderman LLC

Alison Currie is a partner at Lavender Hoffman, LLC. Ms. Currie defends physicians, nurses, psychotherapists, and other medical providers in medical malpractice litigation, privileging matters, and state composite board hearings. Ms. Currie also defends correctional medicine providers in federal § 1983 civil rights actions. Additionally, Ms. Currie represents ERISA healthcare plans, their fiduciaries, and plan participants in healthcare reimbursement disputes.