Mr. Joseph T. Leman

The Leman Law Firm PC

Born in Harlingen, Texas.  Raised in South Florida.  Baptized in a swamp. He lettered in 4 sports at Plantation High School, where he graduated 4 out of class of 572. He received a football scholarship to Davidson College where he graduated Thank dee Laude in 1983. In 1981, Joe was shot in the chest on campus and spent his junior year working and studying at American University and Georgetown. He worked that year for Pete Shields and Sarah Brady a/k/a Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence where he started and edited a publication entitled BodyCount which documented through FBI statistics and newspaper clippings the stories of the victims of gun violence.  Joe, in addition to speaking before the Senate in 1982 at the request of then Senator Joe Biden, also worked with Rep Phil Crane (R-IL) and Biden on the early versions of the Undetectable Firearms Act and the Brady Law. He and his childhood friend, Rus Axsom, co-creator of “That 70’s Show”, performed stand-up comedy from 1977 to 1988 and opened for Bill Hicks, Richard Lewis, and others.

After Joe graduated from Walter F George School of Law in 1986, he began his legal career with The Mitchell Firm in Dalton Ga. He and fellow partner at the Mitchell firm, Warren N. Coppedge, opened their own firm in Dalton, Coppedge and Leman where Joe worked from 1993 thru 2014. From 1986 until 1998, Joe practiced both claimant and defense workers compensation law and in 1998 he began representing exclusively claimants. Joe was the first attorney in the United States to link adulterated L-Tryptophan to the Japanese company Showa Denka KK and was the first case in Georgia to exercise jurisdiction over a foreign entity via World Wide Volkswagon. He was also the first attorney to file suit in the Tri-State Crematory cases which ultimately was certified as a class, and Joe was responsible the expert testimony for plaintiffs and cross-examination of Defense experts. Two trials resulted in judgements of $34 M and $80 M. Joe served on the State Board of Workers’ Compensation Chairman’s Advisory Council from 1993 through October 2022. Joe can specially set your mediation through the ADR Division (lemanj@sbwc.ga.gov; 404.657.1436).