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founding partner
James E. Butler, Jr. is a founding partner of Butler Prather LLP, a nationally known civil trial practice firm that has litigated cases in 33 states—from Massachusetts and California to Oregon and Florida. Jim has been lead counsel in 10 cases where the verdict exceeded $100 million, including a $1.7 BILLION verdict against Ford in a Super Duty roof crush case on August 22, 2022, and a $2.5 BILLION verdict against Ford in another Super Duty roof crush case on February 14, 2025. Those 10 verdicts came in cases involving business torts, product liability, and nuisance/trespass.
It is believed that no lawyer in American history has served as lead counsel in so many cases where the verdicts exceeded $100 million. Moreover, Jim has won record-setting verdicts in several states, including Missouri, Tennessee, and Alabama. He has also set the record for the largest verdict in Georgia history on six separate occasions and in four completely different kinds of civil cases (medical malpractice, trucking, auto products liability, and business torts/breach of fiduciary duty). No other lawyer has done that more than once.
In fact, the first record-setting verdict in Georgia was when Jim was 31 years old. This was followed three months later by what was, then, the second-largest verdict in Georgia history.
Jim was lead counsel in the Time Warner Entertainment Co. v. Six Flags Over Georgia case, a business tort case that is believed to be one of the largest collected judgments in American history ($454 million + interest).
In addition to the 10 verdicts over $100 million, Jim has been lead counsel in cases with verdicts of $37 million, $30 million, $25 million, $17.7 million, $15.5 million, $13 million, $8 million, $4.7 million, and $4.2 million, plus another six verdicts in excess of $1 million. In total, Jim has won 57 verdicts over $100,000.
In addition to verdicts, Jim has served as lead counsel in hundreds of settled cases. Jim has also served as lead counsel in several False Claims Act cases—including one that resulted in $279 million paid by the defendants—and numerous class action cases—including one group that resulted in over $349,500,000 paid by the defendants. Those cases also resulted in the creation of remainder funds that paid some $20 million to charities. Jim was lead counsel in another case, handled pro bono, that has resulted in payment of over $27 million to charities.
Jim has also served as lead counsel defending cases for long-time corporate clients, including one client that was sued in 2020 in seven cases across four states. In that case, Jim was lead counsel for a team that won the dismissal of the last of those seven cases (5 months and 2 days after the first case had been filed) and also defeated a motion for an MDL.
Jim has been listed by Super Lawyers every year since 2004 based on peer reviews and independent research conducted by the rating agency.
Jim began writing for newspapers at age 15 and graduated from the University of Georgia School of Journalism. Between college and law school, he was a homebuilder in Forsyth County, Georgia, building 42 homes.
Jim was offered full scholarships to Harvard Law School and the University of Georgia School of Law. He chose to attend Georgia largely because he had to be near his construction business to wind that down during a then-profound real estate depression.
Jim graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he won the first-year and second-year moot court competitions in addition to the Southern moot court competition and was a member of the National Moot Court team. He was also elected to the Law Review.
Jim began his law practice in Columbus, Georgia, in 1977 but opened an Atlanta office in 1982. In 2018, the firm added an office in Savannah, Georgia.
Jim has received a variety of professional honors, including the State Bar of Georgia General Practice & Trial Section “Tradition of Excellence Award,” the University of Georgia Law School’s “Distinguished Scroll Award,” and the American Board of Trial Advocates Civil Justice Award. He has been a Master of the Bench, Columbus Inns of Court.
Also, Jim has long been recognized as a leader among trial lawyers in Georgia, having served as President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and as a founding Director of the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation. He has also served his profession in a variety of capacities, including on the State Bar Disciplinary Board.
Jim has likewise been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” for many years and was one of the youngest lawyers ever to receive an “AV Preeminent—5.0 out of 5.0” rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the leading national rating agency for legal professionals. He has also been invited to speak at legal seminars dozens of times.
Jim has long been active in politics, beginning at age 19 when he worked in a Georgia gubernatorial campaign. He has also been active with conservation groups, having served on the Georgia Board of Natural Resources, including as Chair of the Environmental Protection Committee.
Jim was a founder of Flint Riverkeeper, Inc., Chattahoochee RiverWarden (now Chattahoochee River Conservancy), Chattahoochee Valley Land Trust, and Georgia Watch. Jim has also served on the boards of many similar groups and endowed a fellowship program at the University of Georgia School of Ecology. He has also been active in a variety of charitable and philanthropic organizations, acting as a founding member of the Board of the Arch Foundation for the University of Georgia and subsequently serving as a member of the Board of the University of Georgia Foundation.
In 2017, Jim Butler funded the lead gift to the University of Georgia School of Law that enabled the Veterans Legal Clinic to open in June 2018. The clinic works with veterans and their dependents to help ensure access to benefits and services, especially for those with mental or physical disabilities resulting from their time in the military. Additionally, the clinic provides Georgia veterans with legal assistance they might otherwise not have access to or be able to afford. The gift was made in memory of Butler’s father, Lt. Cmdr. James E. Butler, Sr., who was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy.
Jim was himself unable to serve in the United States military due to an accident involving a General Motors “Corvair,” one of the most defective vehicles ever manufactured, that left him badly injured at age 17. However, In 2018, Butler donated a gift to the UGA School of Law that would guarantee financial aid to 100% of veterans starting law school in Athens beginning in 2019. This initiative, called “The Butler Commitment,” has been renewed annually. Because of Butler’s gift, the UGA Law School committed to providing financial aid to every veteran since the start of 2020 fall.
Jim is married to the former Kim Cofer of Thomson, Georgia, who is also presently an attorney in Savannah, Georgia, and is now Of Counsel to Butler Prather LLP. They have four children and seven grandchildren.
founding partner
