Professionalism, Ethics and Malpractice

Mr. Jeffrey M. Smith Related Seminars and Products

Greenberg Traurig LLP

A.  PRACTICE

Securities law, including ethics and malpractice litigation involving attorneys and accountants; entertainment industry joint ventures and audits; and food and beverage industry joint ventures and audits. 

B.  EDUCATION

Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, University of Minnesota, 1970.  University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1966-67.  Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, University of Minnesota, 1973. Member, 1971-72, and President 1972-73, Minnesota Law Review.

 C.  HONORS AND AWARDS

1. The Best Lawyers in America: Plaintiffs’ Legal Malpractice;
2. The Best Lawyers in America: Defendants’ Legal Malpractice;
3. The Best Lawyers in America: Corporate Law;
4.   Who’s Who in American Law;
5.  Who’s Who in America and;
6.  Who’s Who in the World.

D.  SUMMARY OF TEACHING ACTIVITIES

1. Semester courses in Ethics and Legal Malpractice at Duke, Emory and Vanderbilt Law Schools.
2. Chair, 1983 – 2022, Georgia ICLE Professionalism, Ethics and Malpractice Seminar.
3. Southwestern University of Finance and Economics: Guest Lecturer, English Language Instruction, 2013 (Chengdue, China).   
4. Central University of Finance and Economics:  Honorary Professor and Guest Lecturer, Securities Laws, and Legal Opinions, 2008-present (Beijing, China).
5. Suzhou Institute:  Guest Lecturer, Securities Regulation, 2009 (Suzhou, China).
6. China Supreme Court: Guest Lecturer, Evolution of the Federal Securities Laws in the United States and comparison to China’s Securities Laws, May 13, 2008 (Beijing, China).   

E. PUBLICATION

1.  1976: Author, Preventing Legal Malpractice (West Publishing), the first book on this subject.
2.  1981:  Editor and reviewer, Levinson, Accountant’s Legal Liability (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.).
3.  1999: Co-author, Fourth Edition of Preventing Legal Malpractice (Thomson/West).  4.  1985-2015:  Co-author, Legal Malpractice (Thomson/West), a five-volume, 7,000-page treatise.           
5.   2007-Present:  Co-author, Second, Third and Fourth Editions, Legal Opinions In Business   Transactions (American Bar Association), a three-volume, 2,000-page treatise. 
6.   2021: Co-editor, Harvard Professor Michael Witzel, The Veda in Kashmir (Harvard Press). 
7.   2023: (estimated):  Co-author with Harvard Professor Michael Witzel, Teaching English Strategically to Native Mandarin Speakers.

Judge Kimberly A. Childs Related Seminars and Products

Cobb County Superior Court

Judge Kimberly A. Childs was elected in May 2016, winning a contested three-way race for an open seat on the Cobb County Judicial Circuit Superior Court bench.  She was re-elected again in 2020 and qualified in 2024 with no opposition.

Before her election, Judge Childs represented businesses and their owners in a variety of commercial disputes. She routinely litigated complex matters in courtrooms across metro-Atlanta.

Between her undergraduate studies and law school, Judge Childs worked as a guard at the DeKalb County Jail and later as a paralegal at a small law firm in Cobb County.  These experiences inspired her to further her education and provided a “real world” foundation for her commitment to our justice system.

Judge Childs has been active in the local bar for many years. She served as President of the Cobb County Bar Association in 2017-20018. Before that, she was the President-Elect, Treasurer,Secretary, Trustee, Business Law & Litigation Section President, Solo/Small Firm Section Secretary, Women of the Bar Section President.  In 2015, she received the President’s Award from the Cobb Bar.

Judge Childs is a member of Lawyers Club of Atlanta.  She serves on the State Bar of Georgia’s Bench & Bar Committee, Court Technology Justice Committee, and the Uniform Superior Court Rules Committee of the Council of Superior Court Judges.  She currently represents the Cobb Judicial Circuit on the State Bar Board of Governors.  

Judge Childs presides over the Cobb County Drug Treatment Court. DTC is an accountability court designed to manage individuals with substance addiction by providing an alternative to the traditional justice system. DTC is designed to improve the health of our participants, not only by addressing the immediate symptoms of their addiction but also orienting participants to a new way of healthier living that can be continued for the rest of their life.

Judge Childs graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State University College of Law. At Georgia State, she was on the editorial board of Law Review and received numerous academic honors.  She obtained her undergraduate degree in criminal justice from North Georgia College. 

Before serving on the bench, her skills in and out of the courtroom earned her top honors, including being recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer, a Georgia Super Lawyer Rising Star, and one of the Business Law Legal Elite.  In 2016, Judge Childs was named to the Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers list, as well as one of the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in both 2015 & 2016. 

On a personal note, Judge Childs is a steadfast and passionate fan of the Atlanta Falcons. She also enjoys watching Atlanta United, the Hawks, and the Braves.  

Ms. Karlise Yvette Grier Related Seminars and Products

Executive Director

Chief Justice's Commission on Professionalism

In September 2017, Karlise Yvette Grier became the Executive Director of the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism. Prior to assuming her current position, Ms. Grier worked as the managing attorney of Grier Law Office, P.C., an Atlanta law firm that concentrated in the areas of adoption, divorce, and family law. Ms. Grier was appointed to serve as a part-time Magistrate Court judge in Fulton County and served as a Judicial Officer in the Fulton County Superior Court Family Division from May 2006 through December 2008.  From March 2000 until June 2005, Ms. Grier served as a Judge Pro Hac Vice in the former City Court of Atlanta (“Traffic Court”).

Ms. Grier served as the Vice Chair of the State Bar of Georgia’s Child Protection and Advocacy Section and the founding chair of the GABWA Family Law Section.  She is a past president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys and of the League of Women Voters of Atlanta-Fulton County.  She is a member of the 2015 Class (BCE) of Leadership Atlanta.

Ms. Grier received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College in 1986, and her law degree from the Emory University School of Law in 1992. She was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in that same year.

Ms. Grier was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was graduated from Frederick Douglass High School.  She is a member of Ben Hill United Methodist Church.

Ms. Elizabeth Green Lindsey Related Seminars and Products

Harrison LLP

Elizabeth Green Lindsey is a partner in Harrison LLP and practices exclusively in the area of family law.  Ms. Lindsey is a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and is a Past President of AAML, a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, a Past President of the Georgia Chapter of the AAML, a Fellow in the International Academy of Family Lawyers, a Diplomate in The American College of Family Trial Lawyers, a former Chair of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia, served on the Rules Committee for the Family Division of the Superior Court of Fulton County and the Task Force for the Family Division, and is a Master in the Charles Longstreet Weltner Family Law Inn of Court.   She now serves as President of the National Board of Trial Advocacy and is board certified by the NBTA in family law trial advocacy.

Ms. Lindsey was named the “2022 Lawyer of the Year in Family Law in Atlanta” by Best Lawyers in America. She received the AAML Fellow of the Year in 2018.  Ms. Lindsey is listed in the 2025 Chambers High New Worth Guide: High New Worth in Georgia,  2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Family Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, in Atlanta Magazine’s “Georgia Super Lawyers” Top 50 Women Lawyers, Georgia’s Best Lawyers, and in Georgia’s Top Rated Lawyers.  In addition, she is a frequent lecturer on family law matters.

Ms. Lindsey attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in Religion in 1982.  She double majored in Religion and Psychology.  In 1985, she received her Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ms. Lindsey was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1985 and to the Georgia Bar in 1989.

Ms. Paula J. Frederick Related Seminars and Products

Former General Counsel

State Bar of Georgia

Paula Frederick retired from her role as General Counsel of the State Bar of Georgia in January 2025. She served in the Office of the General Counsel for a total of 36 years, rising through the ranks as an Assistant General Counsel handling lawyer disciplinary cases,  as Deputy General Counsel with management and supervisory responsibility, and,  beginning in 2009, as General Counsel for the organization.  The State Bar of Georgia is a unified bar organization with over 55,000 members. As General Counsel Ms. Frederick led an 11-lawyer office responsible for interpreting the ethics rules for lawyers, prosecuting lawyer discipline cases, and providing legal advice to the officers and directors of the Bar. She authored over 100 ethics articles for the Georgia Bar Journal and has presented hundreds of continuing legal education programs on issues of lawyer ethics and professionalism.  

A native of Riverside, California, Ms. Frederick attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in May 1979.  She is a 1982 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, where she served as Associate Articles Editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.  Prior to her work at the State Bar of Georgia, Ms. Frederick spent six years as a lawyer with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society handling civil legal matters for low-income people.   

Ms. Frederick was the first African American president of the Atlanta Bar Association, which reached 6,000 members during her presidency and is the largest voluntary bar association in the southeast.  Her focus as president was on pro bono projects and programs to benefit the Atlanta community.  She was president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys in 1998 and is also an active member of the Gate City Bar Association. 

Ms. Frederick is actively involved with the American Bar Association, where she chairs the Coordinating Council of the Center for Professional Responsibility.  She has an extensive history of service within the ABA, and in the past chaired the Standing Committee on Professional Regulation, the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and the ABA Diversity Center. She currently serves as co-chair of the Decennial Review Commission and is Secretary of the Government/Public Sector Lawyers Division.  She has been a delegate in the ABA House of Delegates for more than 25 years. 
In Atlanta, Ms. Frederick sits on the Board of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. In the past she has served on the Boards of the Atlanta Bar Foundation, the Grant Park Conservancy, Vox Teen Communications, the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, the Georgia Legal Services Foundation, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.  She served on the City of Atlanta Board of Ethics from 1997 through 1999. 

Ms. Frederick is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell®.  Upon her retirement the Supreme Court of Georgia presented her with its Amicus Curiae award in recognition of her service “as a guiding hand in upholding the integrity of the practice of law in Georgia.”  In 2025 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the State Bar of Georgia Young Lawyers Division. In 2014 the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys awarded her the Leah Ward Sears Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession. She was a 2004 inductee into the Gate City Bar Association Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the Charles Watkins Award for distinguished and sustained service to the Atlanta Bar Association.  She was the 2002 recipient of the Kessler Award from the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers.  In 2001 she was honored with a leadership award from the Emory Law School Public Interest Committee and a community service award from the Black American Law Students Association at the Georgia State University School of Law.  In 1995 she was State Bar of Georgia Employee of the Year. 

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.