Ryan McLemore

Mr. McLemore brings over twenty years of experience representing business clients.

Mr. McLemore started his career as a commercial litigator with Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs, and then Cushing, Morris, Armbruster & Montgomery in Atlanta. His litigation practice has focused on complex commercial real estate and construction disputes, commercial lease enforcement, securities and banking litigation, intellectual property, ERISA enforcement for benefit funds, and other creditors’ rights, including bankruptcy proceedings and general commercial disputes.

After cutting his teeth as a litigator, Mr. McLemore expanded his practice to include handling major commercial real estate transactions, including real property and business acquisitions and sales, leasing, owner association formation and management, lending, corporate structuring, environmental and governmental planning/zoning, agricultural use, and land development and construction.

Mr. McLemore’s other areas of experienced include franchising, licensing, fraud and RICO claims, government forfeiture/seizure issues, restrictive covenants in employment and other agreements, corporate collections, veil-piercing, fraudulent transfer, liens, livestock issues, aircraft financing, defamation, ADA and FHA discrimination claim defense, trademark disputes, timeshare regimes, challenging prepackaged bankruptcies, minority shareholders’ rights, quiet title actions, and recreation/entertainment development (e.g., major theme parks, resorts, R/V parks, and wildlife preserves).

He has also handled appeals in the Georgia Court of Appeals, Supreme Court of Georgia, Eleventh Circuit, and U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. McLemore received his JD cum laude from Tulane University School of Law. He received his undergraduate degree in political science from Louisiana State University.

• In re: Jankauskas, 593 B.R. 1 (2018) (rep. judgment creditor Legacy Chemical Corp.).
• Gerber & Gerber, P.C. v. Regions Bank, 596 S.E.2d 174 (2004) (avoided liability for bank client re: check fraud—summary judgment for bank client affirmed).
• Malice v. Coloplast Corp., 629 S.E.2d 95 (2006) (affirmed judgment for client in restrictive covenant AAA arbitration matter; cert. denied).
• Slaughter v. Sheet Metal Workers’ Local No. 85 Pension Plan, 38 Employee Benefits Cas. 1352 (N.D. Ga. 2006) (obtained summary judgment for client benefit fund in benefits-claim lawsuit by plan participant).

• AV® Preeminent Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell
• Robert B. Acomb, Jr. Award, Best Comment, 2000.
• Publications: Forum-Selection Clauses and Seaman Personal Injury, 25 Tul. Mar. L. J. 327 (2000) (cited in Mich. L. Rev, N.W.U. L. Rev., Harv. Negot. L. Rev., and ATLA Journal).

• Manage leasing enforcement and workouts (including for COVID-19-related hardship) for commercial real estate client with approximately 5 million sf of office and retail space.
• Obtain a quiet-title judgment for one of Atlanta’s oldest existing hobbyist nonprofit organizations, on a historic Old Fourth Ward building.
• Obtain summary judgment for plaintiff in a romance-fraud matter.
• Manage Georgia collections for major national automobile lender.
• Serve as lead outside counsel for major international commercial real estate developer, handling land purchases, sales, and development of high-end mixed-used centers, hotels, theme park centers, owner-association management, and working cattle ranch deals and issues.
• Serve as fiduciary for major labor union benefit funds, including successful motions and trials before the Northern District of Georgia, to enforce employer contribution duties and defend funds against unfounded benefits claims.
• Handle corporate planning, contracts and collections for chemical brokerage firm, including obtaining dismissal of a bankruptcy proceeding to receive garnished funds from a defaulting vendor.
• Successfully defend $100MM + veil-piercing action in construction litigation matter.
  Reach advantageous settlement in major NASD arbitration between payment processor client and international vendor.
• Obtain summary judgment with Thrift McLemore attorney Carol Scott for commercial tenant on large rent-acceleration claim.
• Obtain substantial settlement with Craig Thrift, for franchisee in AAA arbitration matter against national franchisor.
• Handle entire process of opening a major national restaurant franchise, from entity formation, SBA lending and franchise agreement, to land purchase, building construction, and employment management.