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Representing Corporations and Individuals
Internal Corporate Investigations
Trials & Appeals |
Michael Abbott is a graduate of the University of Wyoming and the Duke University School of Law. He is a member of the State Bars of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. His practice continues to focus on White Collar Crime, representing corporations and individuals. He has been listed in America's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Client's Guide (Chambers USA), The Best Lawyers in America and as a Georgia Super Lawyer.
Michael came to Atlanta to teach at the Emory University Law School where he was both an Assistant Professor of Law and an Assistant Dean at the Law School. At age 29, while at Emory, he argued
Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U.S. 67 (1972) before the
United States Supreme Court. His client, Margarita Fuentes, won in a landmark procedural due process decision that guaranteed notice and prior hearing before a state authority (Florida) could deprive an individual of property rights. The case effectively invalidated statutes in most states. The Fuentes case is still read in law schools throughout the country in Constitutional Law and other courses.
Later, he became an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta) where he was Chief of the White Collar Crime Division. While an AUSA, he also directed the first internship program between the United States Attorney's Office and Emory University Law School. He served on the faculty at the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C. where he assisted in the training of new attorneys for the Department of Justice. He also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Florida.
As a private attorney, Michael has focused on white collar and complex litigation matters, including Healthcare. In 1992, as a defense attorney, he again argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in a statutory construction issue regarding the federal extortion statute known as the Hobbs Act in
Evans v. United States , 504 U.S. 255 (1992). He instituted and Co-chaired the annual
White Collar Crime Seminar of the Institute of Continuing Education (ICLE) of the State Bar of Georgia for over a dozen years.
He has published many articles ranging from Op-ed pieces in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to short pieces for the Daily Report, the Atlanta legal newspaper. He has written on legal issues for various law reviews over the years. He has continued to do pro bono work throughout his career.
