Trial Practice

On the first day of practicing law as partners together in September of 1999, Steve Hill and Doug Kertscher were retained by Nova Capital for representation in a breach of franchise agreement and conversion of franchise rights case against Kids R Kids International. They tried the case a year later in Gwinnett County, Georgia and obtained a multimillion dollar verdict, one of the largest jury verdicts in Georgia that year, and still one of the largest verdicts ever in Gwinnett County. They realized from that experience that HKW had much to offer businesses and individuals in need of a real trial lawyer.

First, we have trial lawyers rather than paper-pushing litigators. Collectively, we have four trial lawyers with substantial first-chair trial experience including approximately 75 jury trials. This is an unprecedented amount of trial experience with business cases for a firm our size. Many of our trial lawyers were accomplished public speakers before joining the firm. We are accustomed to arguing to judges and juries and examining witnesses. “See you in court” is our pastime.

In the courtroom, HKW matches unparalleled persuasion strategies, including the use of state-of-the-art trial technologies, with an impressive resume of trial experience in order to achieve the best possible result for our clients. Our win rate at trial since the inception of the firm in 1999 is extraordinary, over 90%. We have winning ideas and the skills to use them to your best advantage. Click here to read about some of our impressive victories around the U.S.

“GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS” – HKW’S EFFICIENT APPROACH

Victory means different things to different people in different circumstances. We work to figure out what it means to “win” in each particular case. Then, we staff our cases and projects for results, consistent with our clients expectations that we operate lean and mean, often with an experienced trial lawyer handling a case with one to two younger lawyers in a supporting role. This approach gives the senior partner hands-on control over the development of the case or project. We oppose layers of lawyers reviewing each other’s work and we oppose having so many people working on small pieces of our cases and projects in isolation that there is no one who understands all aspects of complex problems our clients need us to address successfully.

SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE

HKW’s trial work spans a variety of areas of the law. To name a few, we have tried cases involving patent, copyright, trademark, unfair competition, trade secret, RICO, fraud, bribery, breach of contract and other commercial issues, cybersecurity breaches, employment, non-competes, non-solicitation, harassment, whistleblower, franchise rights, and wage-and-hour claims. We are comfortable handling cases regardless of venue, and have deep expertise in federal court, state court, arbitration and mediation proceedings.

To contact us about our trial practice, call 770-953-0995 or click here to request a consultation.