JELLYFISH AND A CLOWNFISH NAMED VOLTAIRE

JELLYFISH AND A CLOWNFISH NAMED VOLTAIRE
BE CAREFUL!!! GOT A FRIEND WITH ME HAVING THE LUCKY FIN OF A CLOWNFISH NAMED VOLTAIRE! WE CAN BE VERBALLY AGGRESSIVE.

E = mc3: THE NEED FOR NEGATIVE THEOLOGY

E = mc3: THE NEED FOR NEGATIVE THEOLOGY
FUSION CUISINE: JESUS, EINSTEIN, and MICKEY MOUSE + INTERNETS (E = mc3) = TAO ~g(ZERO the HERO)d~OG

About Me

My photo
Hearing impaired (tendency to appear dumb, dense, and/or aloof), orthodox atheist (believe faith more harmful than doubt), self depreciating sense of humor (confident/not to be confused with low self esteem), ribald sense of humor (satorical/mocking when sensing Condescension), confirmed bachelor (my fate if not my choosing), freakish inclination (unpredictable non-traditionalist opinions), free spirit (nor conformist bohemian) Believe others have said it better...... "Jim! You can be SO SMART, but you can be SO DUMB!" "Jim! You make such a MARTYR of yourself." "He's a nice guy, but...." "You must be from up NORTH!" "You're such a DICK!" "You CRAZY!" "Where the HELL you from?" "Don't QUITE know how to take your personality." My favorite, "You have this... NEED... to be....HONEST!"

Saturday, July 9, 2016

M. Ayres Gardner


M. Ayres Gardner

M. Ayres Gardner

Member, volunteer at State Bar of Georgia Fee Arbitration Committee
Atlanta, Georgia
Legal Services
Current
  1. Cobb & Gardner, LLP, 
  2. State Bar of Georgia Fee Arbitration Committee
Previous
  1. Cobb & Gardner, LLP, 
  2. Council of Magistrate Court Judges: DeKalb,
  3. Magistrate Court of DeKalb County
Education
  1. Boston University School of Law
Recommendations3 people have recommended M. Ayres

Picture of M Ayres Gardner
M Ayres Gardner from Mason Mill22 Mar

I have wondered why nothing could done about this person, who appears to be mentally disturbed. I find his signs to be horribly offensive, as do many visitors to our home. It has grown worse and worse with each passing year since he first started this public meltdown. One of our repair people actually tried to talk to him to understand what his display was all about and he came up with some jumbled thing about a grievance against an Emory official. My repair guy said it made no sense to him and appeared completely unrelated to many of the political signs in his yard.
Thank Flag


***

Picture of M Ayres Gardner
M Ayres Gardner from Mason Mill5 Oct

He is a disgrace to the neighborhood and a threat to all of our property values. I have wondered why the neighborhood association was not persistently dealing with this. For awhile he had a black monkey hanging by a noose in his yard. If that isn't hate speech, I don't know what is.
Thanked! Flag
You thanked M Ayres


***
SUPPORTER COMMENT

The aesthetic appearance and racist, homophobic designs and messages, and traffic disruption are horrible. The whole mess presented by this yard is detrimental to my property values.
M. Ayres Gardner, Decatur, GA                                  2 months ago


Cobb & Gardner, LLP began as a boutique litigation firm established in 2000 in Decatur, GA, part of Metropolitan Atlanta. As Mr. Cobb joined the General Counsel's Office of the State Bar of Georgia effective June 18, 2012, Cobb & Gardner primarily as a one person firm. Mr. Cobb will participate only so long as necessary to complete his remaining cases. I will not take on clients who are new to me (i.e., old clients are welcome to call).

A partner at Cobb & Gardner, I also handled part-time judicial duties until my retirement from the bench in 2010.

Retainer counsel to a statewide non-profit on its labor and employment matters since 1997.

Experience based on career spent exclusively in Georgia, 19 years with Georgia Legal Services Program in many capacities, including ten years litigating federal housing cases (both individual and class actions), and seven years managing a statewide Pro Bono program.

First entered private practice in 1997, in Decatur, GA, at the same time accepting appointment as a part-time Associate Magistrate Judge in DeKalb County.

An active employment lawyer and mediator from 1997 on, representing plaintiffs (and a few defendants), as well as counseling some small businesses, and mediating non-domestic matters, I took "of counsel" status from 2004 to 2010, working only with my non-profit clients and on the bench.

In mid-2010, appointed a Senior Magistrate Judge (from which I resigned effective January 23, 2012), and returned to exclusive partnership at Cobb & Gardner, LLP.

Trained as a mediator by the Justice Center of Atlanta in the early 1990's, working for them among other things on their REDRESS contract with the U.S. Postal Service throughout the Southeast.

Private mediation has been in employment and business cases and am a trained arbitrator.

I am not accepting new clients at this time.

Experience

  • Owner

    Cobb & Gardner, LLP
     – Present (4 years)
    Solo practice. Not accepting new clients. Practice limited to management side labor and employment work.

  • Member, volunteer

    State Bar of Georgia Fee Arbitration Committee
     – Present (19 years 1 month)Georgia
    Member of Executive Committee for two years. Volunteer arbitrator in panels which resolve attorney - client, attorney to attorney, and firm to firm (or intra-firm) fee disputes. Panel participation continues through present.

  • Partner

    Cobb & Gardner, LLP
     –  (12 years 6 months)
    At Cobb & Gardner, LLP, my partner, William J. Cobb and I have handled a wide variety of matters, including trial and appellate litigation in Georgia and Federal courts and administrative agencies, and counseling clients through severance negotiations and other business and employment matters. After stepping back to Of Counsel status during years when I was more active on the bench in DeKalb County, I returned to full partnership. I currently continue the representation I have provided in all labor and employment matters to two statewide nonprofits. Beyond that and existing cases, I am not accepting new cases at this time. Mr. Cobb has discontinued active practice.

  • Senior Magistrate Judge

    Council of Magistrate Court Judges: DeKalb
     –  (1 year 8 months)
    Served in state-wide position after retiring from active part-time Associate Magistrate position in DeKalb County in 2010. Completely retired January 2012.

  • Partner

    Cobb & Gardner, LLP
     –  (6 years 5 months)
    Taking Of Counsel status in order to devote nearly full-time to Associate Magistrate position in DeKalb County, through retirement May 31, 2010, when I took Senior Judge status and returned to active practice. In addition to my long-standing work in employment matters (litigating, counseling, and consulting), I have developed a special interest in Elder and Family Law, and our firm is committed to developing these areas of practice more fully. My last five years on the bench, in particular, have focused a great deal on abuse issues within the family.

  • Associate Magistrate

    Magistrate Court of DeKalb County
     –  (13 years 2 months)
    Presided over civil non-jury and jury trials in Magistrate and State Court; issued arrest and search warrants; regularly held preliminary hearings; for last 3 years, issued ex parte TPOs and presided over TPO hearings concerning 12 Month Orders.

  • Partner

    Gardner & Greenwood, LLP
     –  (2 years 11 months)
    In practice with James Greenwood in Decatur, Georgia, established a primarily plaintiff's employment practrice. Disbanded this firm due to Mr. Greenwood's decision to move with his spouse to Canada when she received a political appointment to the American Embassy in Ottawa, and when William J. Cobb and I decided to form our existing firm, commencing January 1, 2000.

  • Director

    State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Project
     –  (7 years 2 months)
    Ran statewide coordinating program for pro bono programs providing civil legal services to the poor throughout the State of Georgia, while serving on various other committees of the State Bar of Georgia, and while continuing to serve in a part-time position as in-house labor and employment attorney for the statewide Georgia Legal Services Program, a unionized non-profit. At the conclusion of this service, based on this work and my previous 13 years with Georgia Legal Services Program, I was awarded the John Minor Wisdom Award for Excellence in the Profession by the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association. The award was presented in April 1997.

  • Attorney

    Georgia Legal Services Program
     –  (19 years 9 months)
    Began as a Staff Attorney in the then-Douglasville Office in 1977, promoted to Housing Specialist Attorney in the Atlanta Central Office in April 1980. I retained the latter title until I assumed the role of Pro Bono Project Director (initially 100% percent funded by Georgia Legal Services, a/k/a GLSP) in 1990. During that 10 year period, however, I also, at various times, ran a joint training program for staff of both GLSP and Atlanta Legal Aid Society and participated on the management side in negotiating the first contract with GLSP's newly formed union in about 1987. I then became lead negotiator for GLSP management in subsequent collective bargaining, a role I have retained throughout all other professional transitions to this date, my Associate Magistrate postion being only part-time and permitting law practice.

  • Procurement Appeals Hearing Officer

    City of Atlanta
     –  (4 years 6 months)
    Appointed by then-Mayor Andrew Young as one of a panel of Hearing Officers who held hearings to decide appeals by vendors who disputed decisions made by the Procurement Office of the City of Atlanta.

Volunteer Experience & Causes

  • Chairperson: Individual Rights Section

    State Bar of Georgia
     –  (1 year)Civil Rights and Social Action
    Chaired Individual Rights Section of State Bar of Georgia just as U.S. began involvement in post-9/11 wars,

  • Executive Committee Member

    Dekalb Volunteer Lawyers
     –  (8 years)Poverty Alleviation
    Volunteered with county's pro bono lawyer assn. as Guardian ad Litem for low income families involved in custody disputes.

  • Treasurer

    Lawyers Club of Atlanta
     –  (1 year 1 month)Politics
    Treasurer and Member of Executive Committee of Lawyers Club of Atlanta for one year, during which time I oversaw money-saving changes to banking practices of the club and participated in executive decisions of this limited membership organization of lawyers in Atlanta. Helped to select speakers for Club dinner meetings (held every other month, September through May) which influenced members of this 2000+ voluntary lawyers association.

Causes M. Ayres cares about:

  • Civil Rights and Social Action
  • Human Rights
  • Poverty Alleviation

Organizations M. Ayres supports:

  • Georgia Legal Services Program
  • American Civil Liberties Association
  • The Democratic Party

Honors & Awards

  • John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award

    ABA Section of Litigation
    April 1997
    Given in recognition of a 19 year career devoted to legal services to the poor in Georgia, holding various positions over that time: "In recognition of high standards of professionalism and outstanding contributions in promoting an open profession and an open system of justice."

  • Certificate of Recognition

    Johnson County [GA] S.C.L.C.
    January 1986
    After leading a small group of lawyers who brought a class action lawsuit against the Wrightsville, GA Housing Authority and its Executive Director, causing her to resign and the authority to desegregate, the local S.C.L.C. awarded this certificate for "Your assistance in bringing about equality in Wrightsville."

Courses

  • City University of New York-Hunter College

    • American Constitutional History
    • History of American Foreign Policy
    • Women in American History
    • History of the American Civil War
    • History of the Frontier

  • The New School

    • Political Science: Theory of Revolution
    • American Literature Between the World Wars

  • Independent Coursework

    • Columbia University School of Law Summer in New York:-- Section 1983 Case Law (1981)
    • Columbia University School of Law Summer in New York -- Federal Evidence (1981)

Skills

How's this translation?
  • Great
  • •
  • Has errors

Education

  • Boston University School of Law

    J. D., Law
     – 
    Activities and Societies: Legal Aid Clinical student, followed by yearlong Internship with Greater Boston Legal Services (then Boston Legal Servics Program) in its Fields Corner Office, representing clients directly under Massachusetts Student Practice Rule in Housing and Superior Courts, and before admin. agencies

  • City University of New York-Hunter College

    B. A. summa cum laude, History, Political Science
     – 
    I completed my final two years of college at Hunter, after leaving Emory University at the end of my sophomore year in 1972 and moving to New York City. My concentration was American Political History, and I could not have chosen a better place to pursue that focus than Hunter's History Department. Prof. Naomi Cohen's course in American Constitutional History probably has had more impact on my practice of law than any law school course that followed.
    Activities and Societies: As History major, winner of department's Thomas Hunter Prize for academic excellence in 1974. Member and Secretary, Feminist Collective.

  • The New School

    none, English, History
     – 
    At the time when it was still The New School for Social Research, I took three undergraduate courses during the Fall Semester 1971. All three were incredibly intellectually stimulating and made my foray into life in New York all the more fascinating. Nearly 40 years later, I still fondly recall those lectures and the reading which accompanied them -- "The American Novel Between the World Wars," "History of the Russian Revolution," and "Theory of Revolution."

  • Emory University

    none, French Literature, History, Art History
     – 
    My years at Emory were at the height of the Vietnam War, and I spent a great deal of non-academic time involved in the political movement to end the war and bring American troops home. I found the lack of progress on racial equality issues to be frustrating, especially after having spent the last two years in a heavily integrated environment in D. C. So, I left Emory after 2 years and moved to NYC to live and work, eventually finishing college there.
    Activities and Societies: College Radio station (announcer, music program), "Emory Wheel" (newspaper - copy editor)

Organizations

  • American Bar Association

    Starting 

  • State Bar of Georgia

    Former Chairperson, Section on Individual Rights & Responsibilities; at various times: member -- Fee Arbitration Committee, Pro Bono Committee, Special Committee to Examine Diversity in the Profession
    Starting 

  • Lawyers Club of Atlanta

    Treasurer 1996-1997
     – 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)