Ms. Emily Cook Ward

Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP

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Emily C. Ward is a Partner in Smith Gambrell & Russell's Atlanta office who’s practice concentrates on white-collar defense, government investigations, and civil litigation including environmental, business, and healthcare litigation, as well as administrative and regulatory matters.

 

Ms. Ward regularly represents defendants in environmental, cybersecurity, public corruption, and tax fraud investigations, with recent successes resulting in no indictments being filed or substantially reduced penalties being negotiated. She obtained a defense verdict in a multi-day arbitration for healthcare practice that had been charged with violating various contractual provisions regarding medical billing, physician recruitment, and restrictive covenants. Ms. Ward also received a defense verdict for parents who had been placed on the child abuse registry after seeking medical treatment for their accidentally injured child. Ms. Ward often defends medical professionals before state medical, dental, nursing, and health insurance boards to prevent disciplinary actions from being imposed. She also has represented many students accused of academic, behavioral, and other infractions and helped them resolve the situation with the administrative and academic conduct boards.

 

Ms. Ward is active in multiple bar associations including the American Bar Association, State Bar of Georgia, and Atlanta Bar Association. She currently serves as Secretary and is on the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Bar Association. Ms. Ward also recently served as Chair of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Criminal Law Section in 2021 and Women in the Profession Section in 2019.

 

Ms. Ward has been recognized in Chambers USA as an Up and Coming attorney in Litigation White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, in multiple categories by Best Lawyers as One to Watch, and Georgia Super Lawyers as a Rising Star, among others. She also was recognized as the University of Georgia’s Young Alumnae of Excellence in 2022 and was the inaugural recipient of the Catherine M. O’Neil Mentoring Award given by the Women’s White Collar Defense Association in recognition of her as an outstanding junior member of the WWCDA.

 

Ms. Ward received her undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and her J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law.