Background
Michael Hamilton Trotter was born on September 25, 1936, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. He is the son of Richard Adelbert and Nell Hamilton Trotter.
Michael Hamilton Trotter was born on September 25, 1936, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. He is the son of Richard Adelbert and Nell Hamilton Trotter.
Michael Trotter received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in history from Brown University in 1958. He obtained a Master of Arts degree from Harvard Law School in 1959 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1962.
Michael Trotter began his career at Alston, Miller & Gaines as an associate in 1962, the position he held till 1967. One year before being appointed a partner, he founded Good Government Atlanta in 1966. Trotter has been holding the position of a partner at Alston, Miller & Gaines till 1977. From 1977 till 1982 he was a partner at Trotter, Bondurant, Miller & Hishon. He also was the director of Citizens and Southern Realty Investors in 1972-1981. At Trotter, Smith & Jacobs he was president from 1982 till 1992. From 1992 till 2005 he was a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (now Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton). From 2011 he is a partner and senior counsel at Taylor English Duma LLP.
He served at various times as the principal securities lawyer for more than 15 public companies, including Aaron’s Inc., American Realty Trust, Charter Medical Corp., Citizens & Southern Realty Investors, Colorocs Corp., Equitable Leasing Corp., Genuine Parts Co., Hospital Investors, I.C.H. Corp., Magic Chef Inc., National Data Corp., Southmark Corp., Suburban Lodges of America Inc., Citizens & Southern National Bank, and Vintage Enterprises Inc. He also served as the principal corporate attorney for several of these clients. Trotter has devoted significant time to the representation of closely-held businesses as well as family businesses, and he has served as an expert witness/expert adviser with respect to law firm operations and economics in two of the largest law firm bankruptcy proceedings in recent years. He served as a special master for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Trotter taught securities regulation at the Emory University School of Law as well as courses in law firm management and economics. Trotter is the author of dozens of articles, columns, and essays published in Atlanta’s legal newspaper, The Daily Report, as well as in other publications, such as Managing Partner Magazine, the American Bar Association Journal, and The National Law Journal. He is also the author of two important books on the economics and operations of major business practice law firms in America titled, Profit and the Practice of Law: What's Happened to the Legal Profession?, and Declining Prospects: How Extraordinary Competition and Compensation Are Changing America's Major Law Firms. Profit and the Practice of Law is the history of growth and change in the legal profession in America from 1960 through 1995. It captures the universal experience of lawyers caught up in the country’s major business practice firms during this period, and it speculates about the future of such lawyers and their firms.
Declining Prospects tells the story of continued growth and change in the legal services industry over the last two decades and how these changes are affecting the major business practice law firms, their clients, their clients' law departments, and all of the lawyers serving the needs of business in America. The book picks up where Profit and the Practice of Law left off. The two books together provide a comprehensive review of the evolution of the legal services industry in America since the end of World War II. As the author of What’s to Become of the Legal Profession?, Trotter discusses the future of the practice of law in the United States. With his wife and under pseudonym G. A. Clay, he wrote the book The Return of Brer Rabbit.
Michael Trotter has been listed as a reputable lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell. He is the recipient of 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from Daily Report for his contributions to the legal community in Georgia, 2016 Phoenix Award for contributions to the city, 1986 Distinguished Service Award of the Atlanta Business League, and the first recipient of the Igniting a Passion for Justice Award of the Southern Regional Council in 2001.
(Declining Prospects describes the dramatic growth and cha...)
2017(Since 1960, powerful and influential law firms in America...)
1997(What’s to Become of the Legal Profession? is about the fu...)
2017(Brer Rabbit comes out of retirement and visits Atlanta in...)
1995Michael Trotter is a member of Atlanta and American Bar Associations and Phi Beta Kappa at Brown University. He is a past member of the Law Practice Division's Lawyer Leadership & Management Interest Group, and Atlanta Action Forum. He was a board member of the Law Practice Division's Knowledge Strategy Interest Group. He was a secretary of Atlanta Board of Education as well.
member of the board of trustees
Brown University , United States
1978 - 1983
chairman of the Section of Corporate and Banking Law
Georgia Securities Acting Revision Committee , United States
1972 - 1981
president
Research Atlanta , United States
1974 - 1975
member
Urban Design Commission , United States
1992 - 1994
Michael Trotter married Sue Ellen Sexton on June 1, 1962. The marriage produced two children.
