Hall Booth Smith Proud to Name Mr. Kevin D. Abernethy, Ms. Jo A. Jagor, and Mr. Alan R. Belcher as Partner

Hall Booth Smith is proud to announce that Mr. Kevin D. Abernethy, Ms. Jo A. Jagor, and Mr. Alan R. Belcher have been named as partner. The honor is recognition of the outstanding work that these individuals have done as attorneys for HBS.

Mr. Kevin Abernethy is an attorney in the Atlanta office of Hall Booth Smith. Mr. Abernethy has extensive litigation experience handling civil rights claims for the City of Atlanta, large complex environmental lawsuits, corporate suits, and claims involving professional negligence. He has litigation experience in both Georgia and Tennessee and is licensed in both of these states.  His practice concentrates on high exposure cases.  In 2010, Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle appointed Mr. Abernethy to a four-year term on the State Ethics Commission, a quasi-judicial body with statewide jurisdiction over ethical issues involving public officials, lobbyists, and state vendors. Mr. Abernethy was selected to serve as Chairman of the Ethics Commission in 2011. He was reelected Chairman in 2012. Mr. Abernethy is the youngest Chairman in Georgia’s history. In 2010, Governor Perdue appointed him to a three year term to the board of the Superior Court Clerks Retirement Fund of Georgia, a position of fiduciary responsibility and oversight over a multimillion dollar portfolio.

Ms. Jo Jagor has enjoyed an insurance defense practice for many years, representing licensed professionals in all areas of medicine. Her practice at HBS is primarily devoted to the defense of a variety of medical specialties including all types of physicians, dentists, nurses, optometrists, pharmacists, psychologists, and professional engineers. Over time, Ms. Jagor has represented numerous hospitals in Georgia and throughout the South. She also defends long-term acute care facilities and assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, and she routinely represents licensed professionals before their state licensing board. Jo is a long-standing member of the Atlanta, DeKalb and State Bar Associations of Georgia, GAWL, and The Lawyers Club of Atlanta. Ms. Jagor has been identified by Law & Politics and Atlanta Magazine as a “Rising Star.”

Mr. Alan Belcher joined Hall Booth Smith in our Charleston office in October 2011.  Mr. Belcher focuses his practice in the areas of construction litigation, complex commercial and business litigation, and the defense of businesses in various claims involving premises liability, products liability, and personal injury.  He also routinely represents personal lines insurance carriers in all forms of personal injury litigation as well as first-party bad faith and insurance coverage matters.  He has tried countless lawsuits to jury and non-jury verdicts and has obtained numerous defense verdicts on behalf of his clients in various types of construction, business, and insurance-driven personal injury lawsuits.  He also has marked experience in forms of alternative dispute resolution including mediations, AAA arbitrations, and private arbitrations.

Hall Booth Smith currently has eight regional offices in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina. The outstanding skills and talents of our professional have allowed HBS to become one of the Southeast’s leading law firms.  HBS would like to extend heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Kevin D. Abernethy, Ms. Jo A. Jagor, and Mr. Alan R. Belcher.