About James E. Butler Jr.

Career

James E. Butler, Jr., is a founding partner of Butler Prather LLP, a nationally known civil trial practice firm that has litigated cases in 30 states—from Massachusetts to California, Montana to Florida. Jim has been lead counsel in nine cases where the verdict exceeded $100 million, including a $1.7 BILLION verdict against Ford in a Super Duty roof crush case on August 22, 2022. Those verdicts came in cases involving business torts, product liability, and nuisance/trespass. It is believed that no lawyer in American history has served as lead counsel in so many cases where the verdicts exceeded $100 million.

Jim has won record-setting verdicts in several states. He has set the record for the largest verdict in Georgia history on five separate occasions and in four different areas of civil cases (medical malpractice, trucking, auto products liability, and business torts/breach of fiduciary duty). No other lawyer has done that more than once.

Jim was lead counsel in the Six Flags vs. Time Warner case, a business tort case believed to be the largest collected judgment in American history ($454 million).

In addition to the nine verdicts over $100 million, Jim has been lead counsel in cases with multimillion-dollar verdicts of $37 million, $30 million, $25 million, $17.7 million, $15.5 million, $13 million, $8 million, $4.7 million, $4.2 million, plus six additional verdicts exceeding $1 million. Jim has also won a total of 54 verdicts over $100,000. Additionally, Jim has served as lead counsel in hundreds of settled cases. Jim has also served as lead counsel in several False Claims Act cases—including one that resulted in $279 million paid by the defendants—and numerous class action cases (one of which resulted in over $349,500,000 paid by the defendants).

Jim has also served as lead counsel, defending cases for long-time corporate clients. This includes one client who was sued in seven cases in four states. In that case, Jim was lead counsel for a team that won the dismissal of the last of those seven cases five months and two days after the first such case had been filed.

Education

Early Life & Education

Jim began writing for newspapers at age 15 and graduated from the University of Georgia School of Journalism. Between college and law school, Jim was a homebuilder in Forsyth County, Georgia, where he built 42 homes.

Jim was offered full scholarships to Harvard Law School and the University of Georgia School of Law. He chose to attend Georgia largely because he had to be near his construction business to wind that down during a profound real estate depression at the time. He graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he won both the first-year and second-year moot court competitions and the Southern moot court competition, and was a member of the National Moot Court team. He was also elected to the Law Review.

Jim began his law practice in Columbus, Georgia, in 1977 and opened an Atlanta office in 1982. By 2018, the firm added an office in Savannah, Georgia.

Honors & Memberships

Jim has received a variety of professional honors, including the State Bar of Georgia General Practice & Trial Section "Tradition of Excellence Award," the University of Georgia Law School’s "Distinguished Scroll Award," and the American Board of Trial Advocates Civil Justice Award. He is currently a Master of the Bench, Columbus Inns of Court.

Jim has long been recognized as a leader among trial lawyers in Georgia and served as President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and as a founding Director of the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation. He has served his profession in various capacities, including serving on the State Bar Disciplinary Board. Jim has been recognized as a "Super Lawyer" for multiple years and was one of the youngest lawyers ever to receive the "AV Preeminent—5.0 out of 5.0" rating" from Martindale-Hubbell, the leading national rating agency for lawyers. He has also been invited to speak at legal seminars dozens of times.

Charity & Philanthropic Ventures

Jim has long been active in politics and with conservation groups. He served on the Georgia Board of Natural Resources, including as Chair of the Environmental Protection Committee. Jim was a founder of Flint Riverkeeper, Inc., Chattahoochee RiverWarden (now Chattahoochee River Conservancy), Chattahoochee Valley Land Trust, and Georgia Watch. Jim has also been active in a variety of charitable and philanthropic organizations. He was a founding member of the Board of the Arch Foundation for the University of Georgia and served subsequently as a member of the Board of the University of Georgia Foundation.

At age 17, Jim was badly injured in the crash of a General Motors "Corvair"—one of the most defective vehicles ever manufactured. He was unable to serve in the United States military himself. However, he funded the lead gift to the University of Georgia School of Law in 2017, enabling the Veterans Legal Clinic to open in June 2018.

The clinic works with veterans and their dependents to help ensure access to benefits and services, especially for those with mental or physical disabilities resulting from their time in the military. In addition, the clinic provides legal guidance to Georgia veterans who might not have access to or funds for representation, particularly regarding denied or deferred claims before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Veterans Legal Clinic also supports undergraduate veterans who work in the clinic through the Department of Veterans Affairs Work Study Allowance program. The gift was made in memory of Butler’s father, Lt. Cmdr. James E. Butler, Sr., a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy.

In 2018, Butler donated a gift to the UGA School of Law that would guarantee financial aid to 100 percent of veterans starting law school in Athens beginning in 2019. This initiative is called "The Butler Commitment." UGA School of Law Dean Peter B. "Bo" Rutledge said, "What […] better way to honor military women and men for their service [than] to provide monetary support for their education. After serving our country, just [as] Jim’s father did, these men and women are seeking to build their careers. It is an honor to be able to support them in their efforts to become lawyers and […] obtain justice for others."

The Butler Commitment has been renewed annually. Because of Butler’s gift, the UGA Law School has committed to providing financial aid to every veteran beginning in the fall of 2020. Rutledge comments: "Jim Butler continues to strongly believe in those who have served our country, similar to his father and brother, and the school is happy to honor the Butler family’s connection to military service in this manner."