Michael J. Athans

Mike Athans is a Partner in Freeman Mathis & Gary’s Professional Liability and Insurance Coverage practice. He has extensive trial and litigation experience representing insurers in bad faith and insurance coverage lawsuits, business clients in commercial and transportation lawsuits, and manufacturers or users in product liability lawsuits. He has been lead trial and litigation counsel in complex insurance and commercial disputes for domestic and foreign insurer clients including Great American Insurance Company, CNA, American Safety Insurance, RSUI, Markel and London Market Insurers. He has also published articles and given speeches on product issues, insurance coverage and construction defect topics.

Since 2003, Mike has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Emory University Law School where he teaches Negotiations and Alternative Dispute Resolution to third-year law students, and trial techniques to second-year law students. Mike has judged mock trials through NITA-sponsored programs and the Frederick Douglas Moot Court Program. He also gives in-house training classes for clients, including negotiation skills training.

Mike is a certified mediator and arbitrator in Georgia who brings experience as both a trial attorney and negotiations instructor to the ADR matter. In 1982, Mike served as a law clerk to Judge Bailey Brown on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.