Jeanne Bynum Hipes

Email: counsel@hipeslaw.com
Phone: 678.867.7006

 

• University of Maryland: B.A.,
  magna cum laude, 1980
• University of Virginia School of Law: J.D., 1984
• Harvard Law School: Certificate, Negotiation & Leadership, 2014
• Henning Mediation: Certificates in Mediation and Arbitration, 2015

 

• Admitted to the State Bar of Georgia, 1984
• Admitted to all Georgia Courts, 1984
• Admitted to Georgia Federal Trial and Appellate Courts (N.D.Ga.and 11th Cir.)
• Admitted Pro Hac Vice to various courts nationwide
• Member, State Bar of Georgia
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Atlanta Bar Association (2008-2017)

                -Labor and Employment, Litigation, and Alternative Dispute Resolution SectionsResolution Sections

• Registered Neutral, Georgia Office of Dispute Resoultion (2015 to present)
• 2016 Woman of the Year for Law and Justice (Women Works Media)

• Member, Sisters-in-Law
• Member, Virginia Alumni Association
• Member, National Employment Lawyers Association
• Member, Cambridge Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women
• Member, John's Creek Chamber of Commerce
• Member, Former Foundation Chair, Rotary Club of John's Creek-North Fulton
• Member, National Association of Professional and Executive Women
• Member, City of Milton Ethics Panel 2011 – Present
• Member, Forsyth County Ethics Panel 2013-2020
• North Fulton PowerCore Team; Former Participation Coordinator, Mentor Coordinator, Membership Coordinator, Member (2011-2019)
• Member, Board of Directors, Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra (2013‐2017)
• Member, Silver Classix Crew Dance Team (promoting health and hope, especially to those age 50+) (2011‐2016)
• Member, Paris Dancers (promoting health and hope, and entertainment to senior citizens and all ages) (2017 to 2018)
• Member, Stayin' Alive Mega Dance Crew (2019 to present)

Introduction

Jeanne Bynum Hipes has been a legal gladiator for her clients since commencing law practice in 1984. An aggressive litigator and negotiator, Jeanne has been advocating for her corporate executive client base in one capacity or another during virtually all of her 20+ years of law practice. Jeanne brings a wealth of complex, commercial litigation experience to her clients’ legal issues, top‐notch corporate experience, employment law advocacy, and a lengthy record of dispute resolution success. She has incomparable experience in representing both plaintiffs and defendants, both individuals and corporations of all sizes, from Mom and Pop to Fortune 100 multi-billion-dollar corporations.

Jeanne has developed and used her skills in multiple forums—mediation, arbitration, administrative hearings, bench trials, jury trials, appellate courts and settlement negotiations— both in Georgia and in other states, as well as abroad. She has lived in and understands the corporate world. Her breadth of experience has equipped her to “know the enemy” and conquer it. Yet her clients often comment that she has a rare sensitivity to and compassion for their circumstances, which makes her a good listener and easy to talk to and understand.

In dealing with business clients, Jeanne recognizes that the individuals who run the business make the business, and she is skilled at listening to business executives as they explain their needs, be they individual or business needs. Jeanne is dedicated to giving her business executive clients excellent legal service, whether they are executives seeking employment with or severance from a corporation, or executives representing corporations seeking to hire or terminate individuals, resolve a contract dispute, fight against business fraud, theft or other torts, or develop necessary business and employment contracts. Both individual and Fortune 100 clients have found Jeanne to be responsive to their needs and a strong advocate for their interests.

Background

After working at NASA Headquarters and a Washington D.C. law firm to put herself through both college and law school, Jeanne graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984 and commenced law practice in Atlanta. She began her career in the practice of insurance defense litigation, and progressed into complex, commercial litigation where she has successfully obtained for her clients multiple, multi‐million dollar judgments and other significant victories. In 2001, she was recruited by then‐client Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world’s largest defense contractor, to serve as its Assistant General Counsel in New York. As Counsel for Lockheed Martin Corporation, she negotiated national and international business contracts and strategic teaming agreements, while concurrently monitoring and participating in national and international litigation. Her corporate experiences ranged from negotiating, drafting and reviewing multiple primary and sub‐contracts related to the development, production, and sale of cutting edge technology (including antiterrorism technology), to attempting to thwart predatory business practices and strategizing with top counsel throughout the United States and abroad over the best litigation approaches.

Jeanne’s responsibilities involved major risk analysis work and development of litigation avoidance and success strategies in matters where billions of dollars were potentially at stake. In monitoring and participating in litigation throughout the country and abroad, she was responsible for overseeing and guiding both large and small, highly‐regarded law firm counsel, as well as costs of litigation, and defining the course of litigation cases involving multiple employment and business issues. Through her work at Lockheed, she experienced the role of being a client, and was able to see first-hand the positive and negative impact a law firm can have on a client‐‐both the company itself and the executives that run it.

Returning to Atlanta in 2003, Jeanne established her own law firm and also became Of Counsel to a well‐known national employment law firm, which relied on her rare blend of litigation skills and business experience to produce exceptional service to the firm’s business and individual executive clients. Jeanne now brings her unique blend of skills and experiences to her executive and professional client base as the managing trial lawyer of Hipes Law LLC.

Jeanne’s combined litigation and business world experiences distinctively enable her to understand her clients’ business and individual perspectives and thus purposefully and aggressively represent their dispute resolution interests. Her litigation resume includes trial, appellate, administrative, mediation and arbitration work with trade secrets, employment agreements and discrimination, restrictive covenants (including, e.g., noncompete, nonsolicitation, and nondisclosure agreements), business and technology contracts, business torts, employer and fiduciary duties, securities issues, RICO, insurance, UCC, and other contract and tort issues. Jeanne is a gladiator for her individual executive and business clients, fighting to obtain for her individual executive clients fair severance agreements and employment contracts, and for all clients, tight, legally‐enforceable contracts and justice in the litigation and dispute resolution arena.

Jeanne may be reached via email at counsel@hipeslaw.com or by telephone on 678‐867‐7006.