Mike Terry handles complex class, trial and appellate matters.  He was on the plaintiffs’ trial teams for the two largest verdicts in Georgia history.  He has been on the winning side on appeal for the largest verdict in Georgia ever reversed, and the largest verdict in Georgia ever affirmed on appeal.

In June 2024, Mike received the State Bar of Georgia’s “Tradition of Excellence Award,” for a lifetime of excellence in litigation. 

In July 2023, Mike was one of three finalists for national “Trial Lawyer of the Year,” awarded by Public Justice in conjunction with the American Association for Justice's annual meeting.

Mike was recognized as the overall Lawyer of the Year for Georgia (2021) by American Lawyer Media and by the Fulton County Daily Report. Mike was a finalist for that award in 2017.

Mike has been ranked by Chambers USA for General Commercial Litigation since 2008.

Mike has been recognized as a Georgia “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers six times, in three subject matter areas (Appellate Litigation, Antitrust Litigation and Banking Litigation). Three of those awards were for trial court work, and three for appellate cases. Mike was a Top 10 Georgia “Super Lawyer" in 2023 and 2024, and has been a Top 100 Georgia "Super Lawyer" 15 times.

Mike was selected by the Supreme Court of Georgia to reargue its most famous case (the “Three Governors" case) for the Court’s 175th Anniversary event in 2021.    

Bar Service 

Mike served as president of the Atlanta Bar Association in 2010-2011, where he set a focus on judicial funding. In 2019, he received the Charles Watkins Award for lifetime service to the Bar, the highest award given by the organization. Mike also served as president of the charitable Atlanta Bar Foundation in 2018-2019.  He is currently on the board of directors of the Atlanta Bar Association and the American Bar Association's House of Delegates. Mike served 10 years (2012-2022) on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia.

Mike is a frequent lecturer and author on business litigation topics, including class actions, punitive damages and appellate issues. He is also often asked to moderate debates and panel discussions involving judges, particularly in the area of professionalism.

Representative Work

Trial Counsel

In August 2022, Mike was part of a trial team that obtained a $1.7 billion verdict, the largest in Georgia history, in the case of Hill v. Ford. His cross-examination of the defense’s engineering expert was referred to in the closing argument as the crux of the case.

Mike was part of a trial team that obtained a $454 million verdict that was affirmed on appeal, the second largest verdict in Georgia history, in Six Flags v. Time Warner.  The trial was of a breach of fiduciary duty case.

In August 2023, Mike was part of a trial team that obtained an $80.2 million verdict in the case of Pritchard v. Mendoza in Cobb County, Georgia.

In September 2023, he was part of a trial team that obtained a $113.2 million verdict in the case of Adams v. Claxton, in Fulton County, Georgia. 

Mike has tried cases to verdict in a number of subject matter areas.  For example, Mike has tried a CERCLA (Superfund) contribution case; a civil RICO (racketeering) case; a Sherman Act (Antitrust) case, and numerous fraud, breach of contract, and products liability cases.

Mike has served as class counsel for certified classes in numerous class actions, including Bickerstaff v. SunTrust Bank, Adams v. DeKalb County, Griner v. Synovus Bank, Brown v. Fidelity Bank, Buckner v. Resource Life Insurance Company, Schorr v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., Toole v. JMIC Life Insurance Co., and Green v.  Griffin Industries.

Appellate Counsel

Over the past 24 years, Mike’s practice has also focused heavily on appellate litigation, particularly in the areas of class actions and punitive damages. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, an organization founded to advance the highest standards and practices of appellate advocacy and to recognize outstanding appellate lawyers. Mike has published three books and numerous articles on appellate practice. Some examples of his appellate work follow.

He argued and achieved a 7-0 victory before the Georgia Supreme Court in a landmark challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s caps on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases. 

In 2018, Mike argued and obtained a unanimous victory before the Georgia Supreme Court for a class of 12,000 teachers alleging improper elimination of retirement plan contributions from the school district.  

In 2016, he argued and achieved a 7-0 reversal of the denial of class certification for a class of 700,000 consumers alleging they had been charged usurious fees by their Bank.  

In 2023, Mike argued and won two cases combined for oral argument in the Georgia Supreme Court which refined the standard for foreseeability of third-party conduct.

In 2023, he argued and won in the Georgia Court of Appeals a case addressing, inter alia, personal jurisdiction based on business registration.

In 2022, Mike argued and won in the Georgia Supreme Court a case extending the rights of victims of childhood sexual abuse.

 In 2020, he argued and achieved a victory before the Georgia Supreme Court in a $46 million dollar medical malpractice case.  

In 2015, Mike was selected by the Council of State Court Judges of Georgia to represent that body in two successful Georgia Supreme Court challenges to actions taken by Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission. Mike received the inaugural “Guardian of Justice” Award from the Council of State Court Judges in 2017. 

Professional Activities

Past President and Executive Committee Member, Atlanta Bar Association; Past Chair, Litigation Section; Past Chair, Continuing Legal Education Board of Directors; Past Chair, Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee

Member, Board of Governors, State Bar of Georgia (2012-2022)

Member, House of Delegates, American Bar Association (2018-2024)

Sustaining Member, Lawyers Foundation of Georgia

Member, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association Executive Committee

Member, American Association for Justice

Member, Lawyers Club of Atlanta

Member, American Constitution Society

Member, Executive Committee and Chair, Program Committee, Lumpkin Inn, American Inns of Court

Member (2005-2011) and Chair (2010-2011), Standing Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, Supreme Court of Georgia, also Member, Emergency Management Committee

Former president, Druid Hills Civic Association

Board of Directors, Atlanta Youth Soccer Association

Honors and Awards

Georgia Lawyer of the Year (2021) by American Lawyer Media

Fellow, American Academy of Appellate Lawyers

Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" (six times)

Leading Business Lawyer, Chambers USA

Best Lawyers in America

Top 10 Georgia Super Lawyer, Atlanta Magazine (2023, 2024)

Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyer, Atlanta Magazine (15 times)

Georgia Local Litigation Star, Benchmark Plaintiff 

Case of the Year award, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers