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A SMART READ FOR SMART READERS

MEREDITH HOBBS |
mhobbs@alm.com
JAMES RADFORD and Regan
Keebaugh have started their own plain-
tiffs firm, handling civil rights and
employment cases.
The two met in law school at the Uni-
versity of Georgia, graduating in 2006,
then worked together at Parks Chesin
& Walbert, which handles a lot of plain-
tiffs employment cases.
Radford, 33, left Parks Chesin to start
his own firm at the beginning of 2012,
and Keebaugh, 35, joined him earlier
this year. I let him know that whenever
he was ready, I had an office for him,
Radford said.
Their firm, Radford & Keebaugh, is
in Decatur, on the square across from
the new courthouse.
Radford said hes attracted to civil
rights cases. I like to talk about free-
dom, justice and the American way,
he said. Regan is more of a numbers
guy. No one can work a spreadsheet
like him.
Keebaugh said about 80 percent of
his practice at Parks Chesin was rep-
resenting public employees who were
wrongfully terminated. He also rep-
resented people whod experienced
workplace discrimination.
He said he is continuing to take those
type casesand also Fair Labor Stan-
dards Act cases, representing employees
in wage and hour suits. In FSLA cases,
he said, its relatively clear-cut whether
the law has been violated. You look at
the facts and compare them to the law.
What James is good at is taking a
case with a lot of gray in it and then
pursuing a theory, Keebaugh said, by
THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2014
Plaintiffs firm opens
in Decatur
FORMER COLLEAGUES at Parks Chesin & Walbert set out to handle civil rights, employment cases
Regan Keebaugh, left, represents plaintiffs suing employers, while his partner,
James Radford, said he likes to talk about freedom, justice and the American way.
JOHN DISNEY/DAILY REPORT
drawing on other cases that may not
look analogous initially to argue that
the law has been violated.
Keebaugh said they are also handling
business disputes, which are billed hour-
ly fees instead of on contingency.
For a firm our size, its important to
have a good mix of hourly and contin-
gency work so we can pay the bills while
chasing after our contingency cases,
Keebaugh said, adding that about half of
their cases come from referrals and half
from Internet marketing.
W. Caleb Gross, whod been working
with Radford, is an associate at the firm.
He received his law degree from Geor-
gia State University in 2011. Keith Barry
is the firms paralegal.
Keebaugh said they have not taken
out any loans. You just have to plan and
save money, he said, adding that the
best business advice he received from
a mentor attorney was to live modestly.
Even with family obligations, said
Keebaugh, who like Radford and Gross
is married with young children, weve
been able to do what we think is the best
thing for us and have fun doing it.
Keebaugh said Parks Chesin was a
great place to learn how to be a lawyer.
You get a fair amount of responsibility
at a young age, and they do try casesa
lot of firms dont anymore.
The first case Keebaugh worked on
at Parks Chesin was a complex voting
rights case involving a school board in
South Carolina, where members were
elected at large. Parks Chesin success-
fully defended the Lexington County
School District 3 from a suit claim-
ing that at-large voting had diluted
minority votes in violation of the Civil
Rights Act.
The primary evidence was statis-
tical analysis, said Keebaugh, who
has an undergraduate degree in eco-
nomics, examining voter turnout and
votes per candidate to try and deter-
mine how candidates preferred by
minority voters fared.
In another complex case, Keebaugh,
along with David Walbert, A. Lee
Parks and Larry Chesin, won $4.8 mil-
lion in back pay and interest in a 2011
arbitration judgment for 23 Fulton
County judicial staff attorneys. They
successfully argued that, through a
1997 program, the lawyers should have
received pay raises commensurate to
those given to staff attorneys working
for the County Attorney.
One of the first cases that Radford
took on after going solo was for an
Alpharetta High School student who
sued the school after he was removed
as student body president for trying to
make the prom more inclusive to gay
students. The student, Rueben Lack,
proposed holding gender-neutral elec-
tions for prom king and queen.
That led to a full-day hearing before
U.S. District Judge Richard Story. The
judge accepted teachers and adminis-
trators testimony that they removed
him as student body president because
of a history of negative interactions.
Although Story rejected Lacks suit
to be reinstated, he commended Lack
for his desire to make the prom more
inclusive. I think you had a great idea
in terms of what caused you to want to
do this, he said.
The case drew coverage from local
TV stations and newspapers as well as
Londons Daily Mail. It was an exciting
way to start out, Radford said. I tend
to take cases I believe in.
Radford is currently suing Georgia
State University under the Americans
With Disabilities Act on behalf of a
student who was subjected to its man-
datory risk assessment program after
he disclosed during a routine medical
screening that he had been diagnosed
with schizophrenia.
Many colleges have instituted threat
assessment programs in response to the
rash of school shootings dating back to
the Columbine shootings in 1999.
The student was kicked out of his
dorm and told he must get regular
counseling, take medication and sub-
mit a compliance report to GSU before
he could return to campus housing,
according to the complaint and GSUs
motion for summary judgment. GSU
also tried to have him involuntarily
committed at Grady Memorial Hospi-
tal. Campus police officers took the stu-
dent to Grady but a psychologist there
said after an evaluation that he did not
meet the criteria. The student, who will
be a junior in the fall, is living off cam-
pus. The suit, filed in 2013 in U.S. Dis-
trict Court for the Northern District of
Georgia, is R.W. v. Board of Regents of
the University System of Georgia.
Radford said hes suing because there
is nothing in any of his records saying
he shows a risk of violence or has been
in trouble or has threatened anyone.
Radfords complaint argues that the
student has been singled out for special
treatment because of the schizophrenia
diagnosis. GSUs motion for summary
judgment says that GSUs treatment of
the plaintiff does not violate the Ameri-
cans With Disabilities Act. The motion
does not cite any threatening words or
behaviors by the student, but it says the
GSU psychologist who initially inter-
viewed him reported behaviors that
correspond with possible psychosis,
which, in turn, increases the likelihood
that a person may engage in violence
against others. The student told the
psychologist hed seen and heard things
before, according to the motion.
GSUs only defense, Radford said, is
that if someone is schizophrenic, they
pose a risk of violence. Can a school
unambiguously target a student based
on mental illness? he asked.
There is not a lot of law on this issue
right now, Radford said. Whatever the
ruling is, its going to have a big impact.
This is the type of law I always want-
ed to do, he added. Luckily Ive been
able to build a practice doing it.
DR
DAILY REPORT JULY 31, 2014
Reprinted with permission from the 7/31/14 edition of the DAILY REPORT
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