Mike Terry handles high-stakes class actions, trials, and appellate matters.
He has tried cases to verdict across a wide range of issues, including fraud, breach of contract, products liability, civil RICO, CERCLA, and antitrust. He was on the plaintiffs’ teams for the three largest verdicts in Georgia … Read more
Michael B. Terry
Mike Terry handles high-stakes class actions, trials, and appellate matters.
He has tried cases to verdict across a wide range of issues, including fraud, breach of contract, products liability, civil RICO, CERCLA, and antitrust. He was on the plaintiffs’ teams for the three largest verdicts in Georgia history.
Mike’s practice also focuses extensively on appellate litigation, particularly in the areas of constitutional law, class actions, and punitive damages. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, an honor reserved for a small number of those demonstrating appellate advocacy excellence.
In recognition of his career achievements, Mike received the State Bar of Georgia’s “Tradition of Excellence Award” in 2024. He was also named a finalist for the national “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award by Public Justice in 2023 and was honored as Georgia’s overall “Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 by American Lawyer Media and the Daily Report, after being a finalist in 2017. Additionally, he received the inaugural “Guardian of Justice” Award from the Council of State Court Judges in 2017.
Mike has been ranked by Chambers USA for General Commercial Litigation every year since 2008 and has earned six “Lawyer of the Year” distinctions from Best Lawyers across three practice areas—appellate, antitrust, and banking litigation—split evenly between trial and appellate work. He was recognized as a Top 10 Georgia Super Lawyer in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and named a Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyer 15 times.
In 2021, the Supreme Court of Georgia selected Mike to reargue its most famous case, the “Three Governors Case,” during the Court’s 175th Anniversary event, a testament to his stature in the legal community.
Mike served as president of the Atlanta Bar Association from 2010 to 2011, where he prioritized judicial funding. In 2019, he received the organization’s highest honor, the Charles Watkins Award for lifetime service, and later served as president of the Atlanta Bar Foundation from 2018 to 2019. He served almost 20 years on the board of the Atlanta Bar Association, six years on the ABA’s House of Delegates, and served for a decade on the State Bar of Georgia’s Board of Governors.
He has published three books and numerous articles on appellate practice. He frequently writes and lectures on class actions and punitive damages and is often invited to moderate judicial panels, particularly on professionalism.
Part of a trial team that obtained a $1.7 billion verdict, the largest in Georgia history at that time, in the case of Hill v. Ford in 2022. His cross-examination of the defense’s engineering expert was referred to in the closing argument as the crux of the case.
Served on the trial team that secured a $454 million verdict, then Georgia’s largest, affirmed on appeal, Six Flags v. Time Warner.
Part of a trial team that obtained an $80.2 million verdict in the case of Pritchard v. Mendoza in Cobb County, Georgia, in 2023.
Part of a trial team that obtained a $103.5 million verdict in the case of Adams v. Claxton in Cobb County, Georgia, in 2023.
Part of the trial team that obtained a $99.9 million verdict in Huynh v. Transportation Inc. Agent Group in Fulton County, Georgia, in 2025.
Served as class counsel for certified classes in numerous class actions, including Bickerstaff v. SunTrust Bank, Adams v. DeKalb County, Griner v. Synovus Bank, Brown v. Fidelity Bank, Buckner v. Resource Life Insurance Company, Schorr v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., Toole v. JMIC Life Insurance Co., and Green v. Griffin Industries.
Appellate Counsel
Argued and achieved a 7-0 victory before the Georgia Supreme Court in a landmark challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s caps on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases.
Argued and obtained a unanimous victory before the Georgia Supreme Court for a class of 12,000 teachers alleging improper elimination of retirement plan contributions from the school district.
Argued and achieved a 7-0 reversal of the denial of class certification for 700,000 consumers alleging their bank had charged them usurious fees.
Argued and won two cases combined for oral argument in the Georgia Supreme Court, which refined the standard for foreseeability of third-party conduct.
Argued and won a case in the Georgia Court of Appeals addressing, inter alia, personal jurisdiction based on business registration.
Argued and won in the Georgia Supreme Court a case extending the rights of victims of childhood sexual abuse.
Argued and achieved a victory before the Georgia Supreme Court in a $46 million medical malpractice case.
Selected by the Council of State Court Judges of Georgia to represent that body in two successful Georgia Supreme Court challenges to actions taken by the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Atlanta Bar Association, Past President and Executive Committee Member; Litigation Section, Past Chair; Continuing Legal Education Board of Directors, Past Chair; Judicial Campaign Conduct Committee, Past Chair
State Bar of Georgia, Member, 2012 – 2022
American Bar Association, Member, 2018 – 2024
Lawyers Foundation of Georgia, Sustaining Member
Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Executive Committee, Member
American Association for Justice, Member
Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Member
American Constitution Society, Member
Lumpkin Inn, American Inns of Court, Executive Committee, Member; Program Committee, Chair
Supreme Court of Georgia, Standing Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, Member, 2005 – 2011, Chair 2010 – 2011; Emergency Management Committee, Member
Druid Hills Civic Association, Former President
Atlanta Youth Soccer Association, Board of Directors
