Lynnette D. Espy-Williams joined the firm’s Atlanta office in March 2007 in the Commercial Litigation Department. In 2011, she moved to the Global Insurance Practice Group, where she is a member. While she still handles commercial litigation, including matters pertaining to products liability, Lynnette focuses her practice on litigating matters pertaining to the health, life, accident, and disability insurance industry. Lynnette has litigated numerous claims involving coverage issues, including bad faith, punitive damages, and deceptive trade practices claims. She has also defended insurance companies in various interpleader actions. Lynnette also serves as co-chair of the firm's Diversity Committee.
Lynnette is currently the President of the Gate City Bar Association, the oldest African-American bar association in the state of Georgia. Lynnette is also actively involved with the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, American Bar Association, Atlanta Bar Association, and the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers. She was also the treasurer for the Young Lawyers Division of the National Bar Association (2010 – 2012).
As if serving in leadership roles for bar associations weren’t enough, Lynnette spends a significant amount of time participating in various pro bono activities and volunteering in the Atlanta community. She has been recognized for her commitment by the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation and for her involvement with Perkerson Elementary School reading program, developed to alleviate the problems associated with illiteracy in the Atlanta Public Schools. Lynnette has also been very active as both a committee member and Co-Chair (2011) for the Community Law Clinic, an outreach program which offers free legal consultations to citizens of Atlanta in the areas of criminal, bankruptcy, foreclosure, and family law. Since its inception, the Community Law Clinic has serviced hundreds of members of the community by providing pro bono assistance with respect to various legal issues that perpetually plague Atlantans.
Lynnette's leadership was recognized when she was included in Georgia Trend Magazines’ Legal Elite, named as a Georgia Rising Star (2012 and 2013) amongst her peers, and was selected as Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “People in the News.” Lynnette is also a member of LEAD Atlanta (2013), Outstanding Atlanta (2012), was selected as one of Atlanta’s Power 30 Under 30 (2010) and, most recently, was recognized as one of Georgia's 40 Under 40 (2013), a list developed by The Daily Report that showcases the top Georgia lawyers under 40 who should be on readers' radar.
Lynnette graduated from Spelman College, cum laude, with honors in economics. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland where she was a staff member for The Business Lawyer as well as an associate articles editor for the Journal of Business and Technology Law. Following law school, Lynnette served as a judicial intern to Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
