Lee A. Summerford is a Martindale Hubbell AV rated partner in the Tax and Corporate section of the firm. Mr. Summerford concentrates his practice in the areas of business law and estate planning. His business practice includes corporate, partnership and LLC formation, contract preparation and negotiation, sales and acquisitions, buy-sell agreements, and succession planning. His estate planning practice ranges from simple wills to complex tax-motivated estate planning, and he handles all aspects of probate, estate and trust administration. In addition, Mr. Summerford regularly deals with the Internal Revenue Service and State Department of Revenue on estate and income tax issues.
Mr. Summerford also handles a number of issues peculiar to physicians and medical practices including shareholder agreements, employment contracts, covenants not to compete, hospital privileges, and state and federal regulatory issues and compliance.
Mr. Summerford attended Mercer University, graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science. While an undergraduate, Mr. Summerford was Grand Master (President) of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and was awarded the Kappa Sigma National Scholarship-Leadership Award. He also received the Georgia Baptist Heritage Scholarship and the Clifton Forrester Memorial Scholarship.
Upon earning his undergraduate degree, Mr. Summerford attended the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University and received his Juris Doctor cum laude in 1996. While at Mercer, he served as Senior Managing Editor of the Mercer Law Review and was a member of the Brainerd Currie Honor Society and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Mr. Summerford graduated in the top 2% of his class, and received American Jurisprudence Awards in Property, Torts, American Legal History, Civil Procedure II, and Secured Transactions (Article 9). He also was the recipient of the James C. Rehberg Academic Scholarship and was named the 1996 Tax Scholar by the Georgia Federal Tax Conference.
Mr. Summerford is a member of the State Bar of Georgia (Fiduciary Law, Health Care and Corporate sections), the Savannah Bar Association and the American Health Lawyers Association.
Mr. Summerford has been included in “Best Lawyers in America” for Trusts and Estates from 2003 through 2013. In addition, Mr. Summerford was named a Georgia “Rising Star” by Atlanta Magazine in the area of Closely Held Businesses from 2006 to 2011. The Rising Star program seeks to identify the top 2.5% of up-and-coming lawyers in Georgia who are under 40 or have been in practice less than 10 years. In 2001, he was recognized as one of the top “40 Business Leaders Under 40” in the Savannah Business Report and Journal.
Mr. Summerford is admitted to practice before the Georgia state courts, the Georgia Supreme Court, and the United States Tax Court.
