Mr. Thomas D. Harper

Thomas D. Harper, P.C.

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Some people go far in life: Tom Harper has gone about two miles.  Tom grew up in Smyrna, Georgia and he still lives there.  As a child, he claims that his father called him "sun” because he was so bright.  Proving his father to be correct, Tom graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1973 and magna cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1977. In between the two, desiring some practical skills which the general public would unanimously appreciate, in 1974 he graduated from the Marietta-Cobb Vocational Technical School in automotive mechanics without securing any academic accolades.  He was elected to, and is a member of, both the Phi Beta Kappa Society and Order of the Coif.  After graduation, Tom worked as a law clerk to The Honorable Thomas O. Marshall of the Supreme Court of Georgia and to The Honorable Harold L. Murphy of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  In 1984, Tom founded the firm of Harper & Cooper with Gary M. Cooper, the firm which ultimately became Harper, Waldon & Craig.   

Tom spent 32 years contesting the exaggerated claims of the plaintiff’s bar on behalf of State Farm and its insureds.  Tom has served as lead or sole counsel in over 250 contested jury trials and was lead counsel in more than 50 reported appellate decisions.  Tom has served in the past as Chairman of the City of Smyrna’s Planning and Zoning Board and as Chairman of the Cobb County Board of Ethics.  Currently, Tom has transitioned (no, not that kind of transition) to the legal equivalent for lawyers of the Elephant Graveyard in a Tarzan movie: mediation.

Tom has been married to his wife Karen for 38 years (seven good ones, although they differ about which seven) and is the father of three daughters (Allison Saunders, a Pediatric Intensive Care Nurse at Scottish Rite; Diana Throckmorton, a Nurse Practitioner in a Vascular Surgery unit at Piedmont Hospital; and Katie Harper, a Graphic Designer for Synovus Bank who has yet to meet a man who can live up to the high expectations her father has set for her - she claims her sisters just “settled").  He has six granddaughters, all of whom, like his daughters, refuse to leave Smyrna.