Stephanie A. Everett , Troy R. Covington and Ariel D. Zion have been named to the Georgia Rising Stars list as three of the top up-and-coming attorneys in Georgia for 2012. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state receive this honor.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are based on a combination of a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates, and peer reviews by practice area.

Part 1, Mason & Ireland discuss Joe Barry Carroll suing the Tavern at Phipps and accuses the restaurant of discrimination. Is chivalry dead or alive?
Listen to Part 1

Part 2, Mason & Ireland talk to general counsel for CentraArchy Restaurant Group Simon Bloom defending The Tavern at Phipps against Joe Barry Carroll.
Listen to Part 2

Part 3, General Counsel for CentraArchy Restaurant Group Simon Bloom talks about the jury deciding that his client didn’t violate the civil rights of Joe Barry Carroll.
Listen to Part 3

The Fulton County Daily Report
September 19, 2011

A federal jury in Atlanta took just 20 minutes Friday to decide that managers of a Buckhead restaurant hadn’t discriminated against a former professional basketball player and an attorney, both African-Americans, when they were ordered to leave after refusing to surrender their seats to two white women.

“We’re obviously very pleased with the outcome,” said Atlanta attorney Simon H. Bloom, general counsel for The Tavern Corp. and CentraArchy Restaurant Management Co., the firms that own and manage the Tavern. “But it is a hollow, Pyrrhic victory because of what the family has had to go through and the money they have had to spend to defend what has now been confirmed by the system as a frivolous lawsuit.

“If a 20-minute decision after five days of testimony does not confirm what I’ve said all along—that this case has always been meritless—I do not know what does,” Bloom said.

The companies, owned by Greg Greenbaum, own and manage nearly two dozen restaurants throughout the Southeast, including three in Atlanta.

Bloom credited the defense trial team—including Greenberg Traurig attorneys Ernest L. Greer, David W. Long-Daniels (chairman of Greenberg’s labor and employment practice), and Stephanie L. Oginsky and Michael Ross of Taylor English—with winning a favorable verdict for the Tavern.

Jurors skipped lunch to deliver the quick verdict, Bloom said.

“I’ve never seen that happen in my career. It is just resounding corroboration that the suit had no merit, and the events were really not about race,” he said.

Read the full story.
http://www.dailyreportonline.com/Editorial/News/singleEdit.asp?l=100379410971

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | June 17, 2011

The owners of a 36.5-acre piece of property in Suwanee have filed a lawsuit against the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and one of its top officials, accusing them of undermining an agreement to sell property to a private Catholic school.

The suit says Nick Masino, mayor of Suwanee from 1999 to 2007, advised city officials in February 2008 to block the relocation of Notre Dame Academy in Duluth to the property in the Moore Road area of Suwanee. Then serving as vice president of the Economic Development and Partnership Gwinnett, Masino allegedly told Suwanee officials that residents “would probably go nuts over” a school being located on the property.

Notre Dame Academy eventually backed out of the contract with Settles Bridge Farm, LLC, after the city ordered a moratorium of building permits in February.

Attorneys for Settles Bridge estimate that the collapse of the deal cost their client as much as $4 million.

“We’re in one of the toughest real estate markets in history,” said Simon Bloom, attorney for Settles Bridge. “And here we have a guy who wanted to exercise his power and influence to intentionally and maliciously block the project. There’s no other way to decipher what happened.”

Read the full story.

Thanks to our sponsors and the over 150 folks who attended the annual Pig Gig event on Saturday, May 21st, The Bloom Law Firm raised more than $10,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of Metro Atlanta. For 11 years, the Pig Gig has been a staple in Founding Partner Simon Bloom’s backyard, complete with beer, BBQ, raffle prizes, and music from the Boo Hoo Ramblers. Bloom has been a long supporter of the Boys & Girls Club, where he currently serves on the Board of Directors.

Simon Bloom was selected as one of Super Lawyers magazine’s 2011 Rising Stars. This marks the 5^th consecutive year that Bloom has been part of this prestigious listing.

Each year, Super Lawyers employs a multi-step selection process to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource to assist attorneys and consumers in the search for legal counsel. Honorees are selected based on peer recognition and professional achievement.

Three Bloom Law Firm Attorneys were named among Georgia’s 2010 “Legal Elite” by Georgia Trend magazine. Simon Bloom and Skip Sugarman were selected by their peers for this year’s list, which is featured in the December issue of Georgia Trend magazine. Thousands of attorneys respond each year, nominating attorneys whose work they rate as the best in the state in a variety of practice areas. Bloom was recognized for their accomplishments in General Practice/Trial Law, and Sugarman was featured in the area of Taxes/Estates/Trusts.