Legal Services & Lawyers

Practice Areas
Mr. Tharp practice areas include both business litigation and family law matters. Much like his law partner, Mr. Meriwether, he finds that handling both types of cases provides unique advantages for his clients. His business litigation and small business experience helps provide extensive financial expertise in handling divorces with large, complicated estates. His family law practice helps provide more frequent courtroom experiences that help him to continue to learn how to best present cases in front of judges and juries.
Mr. Tharp handles a broad range of family law cases including divorce, modification actions, contempt proceedings, and appellant work. He regularly handles estates with large and unique assets, such as a business which can be difficult to value during a divorce proceeding. Mr. Tharp has completed formal mediation training and utilizes this knowledge to achieve favorable results while amicably trying to resolve matters for his clients. Although Mr. Tharp strongly believes that parties should try to resolve matters in a collaborative fashion whenever possible, he also willing, when necessary and appropriate, to utilize his extensive debate skills in a courtroom for his client’s advantage.
General Background and Education
Robert L. Tharp was born on Beale Air Force Base, California. As a child of a military family, he has lived all across the United States and abroad. In high school, Mr. Tharp started to compete at a national level in high school debate.

Mr. Tharp went college at Emory University and graduated in 1993. While in college, Mr. Tharp served as an active leader on campus and was president of the College Republicans, statewide officer of the College Republicans, president of the Georgia Conservancy, student representative to the Southern Accreditation Committee, and officer of Delta Tau Delta. Mr. Tharp also continued to develop his debate skills in college winning numerous college debate tournament awards including best freshman debater, most improved debater, and 1st place at Vanderbilt’s national debate competition. Mr. Tharp also reached elimination rounds for the national debate championship during his time in college.
Mr. Tharp stayed at Emory for law school and received his Juris Doctor Degree in May of 1996. In addition to the rigors of a law school curriculum, Mr. Tharp remained active within the college and high school debate community by helping to coach Emory University’s college debate program and serving as an assistant debate coach for several local high schools including Milton high school in Alpharetta, Georgia.
Mr. Tharp has continued to advance his education and skills since graduation from law school, most recently with his completion of formal mediation training to help better serve his client’s needs in this growing area of dispute resolution.
Civic Involvement
Mr. Tharp served on the Board of Directors for Emory University’s debate program, the Barkley Forum for a number of years. As part of Mr. Tharp’s contributions to Emory during this time period, he ran the Lincoln Douglas portion of the annual Barkley Forum for high school debate tournament at Emory University (the largest high school debate tournament in the nation) while supervising and coaching Emory students during the school year and high school students and high school teachers during annual summer debate workshops. Mr. Tharp also provided extensive help to the Georgia’s high school debate community by helping to run twenty plus high school tournaments a year throughout the greater Atlanta area including tournaments at Milton and Chattahoochee high school.

In addition, Mr. Tharp helped to establish and provided extensive hands-on service for the Urban Debate League program for high school and junior high school students. Mr. Tharp worked with establishing three of the initial Urban debate league programs in this country in Atlanta, Baltimore, and New York – a program that has expanded to 18 of the nation’s largest cities, served 311 urban high schools, 51 urban middle schools, and 37,000 urban public school students.

For these accomplishments, Mr. Tharp was the sole recipient of Emory University’s prestigious Warren Akin Outstanding Alumni Contribution award in 1998.

Political Background
Over the years, Mr. Tharp has been active in numerous state and federal campaigns for local, state and federal races from judges and state representatives to United States Congressmen. He has served various campaign roles from volunteer to campaign coordinator.

In addition, Robert L. Tharp was one of the founding members of a political consulting firm that managed various state and local level campaigns. Not only did this firm provide him with invaluable experience developing and executing comprehensive campaign plans, issues and materials, it also taught him lessons of how to run a business and the struggles that small businesses must manage.

Practice Areas

Since 2000, Mr. Meriwether has focused seventy percent (70%) of his practice on family law and thirty percent (30%) on business law. Through time, he has found that family and business law complement each other well in practice, as his skills from one area transfer easily to the other. Business litigation cases tend to require fewer Court appearances, but the family law cases of Mr. Meriwether's practice has afforded him the opportunity to appear in Court more often and hone skills necessary both for family law and business litigation. Mr. Meriwether's business litigation and transactional work provide the experience and ability to examine and tirelessly move through financial documents, both for business cases, including personal and small businesses, as well as family law cases involving large marital estates in need of equitable division.

Mr. Meriwether utilizes the latest computer software to maintain detailed and comprehensive records of his complex cases. This software allows Mr. Meriwether and his clients to quickly access case information and ensures that no details of the case are overlooked.

Family Law

Mr. Meriwether handles a broad range of family law cases, including divorce, adoption, child custody and support modification, adoption, domestic violence, and premarital agreements. He regularly deals with marital assets ranging from those of little or even negative value to those worth millions of dollars, and competently calculates spousal and child support when applicable.

Mr. Meriwether has said, "In the Courtroom, we zealously represent our clients. But often, fierce litigation is not the best way to resolve a divorce, and we work to settle cases through active negotiation. A divorce can be the most life altering and stressful event anyone can go through, but it does not have to be." To help alleviate the stress often involved in family law cases, Mr. Meriwether takes a collaborative approach to family law. This approach involves utilizing negotiation and mediation to help maintain an amicable relationship between the parties. In cases with children, collaborative law protects the children above all else, creates a win/win situation for the parties, and the parties walk away as satisfied as possible.

In some family law cases, collaborative law will not work, or is inappropriate. Mr. Meriwether evaluates every case on an individual basis to determine how aggressive to approach the case based on the facts, the Court in which the case will be heard, and the Judge who will hear the case. The goal is to achieve the best possible outcome for an individual client. In Mr. Meriwether's experience, compared to a more subtle approach, a "take no prisoners" attitude often results in higher lawyer's fees without a corresponding increase in the achieved result. As such, Mr. Meriwether aims to provide the correct level of aggressiveness to each case for the best result possible.

Business Law

Mr. Meriwether handles a variety of business law cases including simple and complicated business formations, and business divorces. He routinely forms Limited Liability Companies and Corporations. In so doing, he often is asked to draft complex contracts to assist the new business entity with its operations. He also assists clients with the buying and selling of businesses (including the due diligence associated with this process).

Mr. Meriwether views business formations involving a group of friends or acquaintances as marriages, albeit financial ones, and he excels in spotting potential pitfalls when parties are entering into a business relationship. He works hard to ensure that his clients enter into their business ventures well-informed and protected from whatever business complications they may encounter.

Membership

State Bar of Georgia (Member of the Family Law and Business Law Sections)
The Florida Bar
American Bar Association (Member of the Family Law and Business Law Sections)

Admissions
1996, Georgia
1996, Florida

Speaking Engagements
LLC Trends and Developments by National Business Institute. Continuing Legal Education for fellow attorneys.

Arbitration
In 2007, Mr. Meriwether obtained his certification for arbitration. He is ready to arbitrate any Family Law issues and most Business Law matters.

Professional Experience - Mr. Meriwether was admitted to practice law in Florida and Georgia in 1996. In 1998, Patrick L. Meriwether left the Atlanta office of Arthur Anderson and joined Robert Tharp to establish Meriwether & Tharp. His position at Arthur Anderson involved providing tax advice to a variety of large corporations. Mr. Meriwether; however, missed the personal satisfaction that comes with running his own practice and assisting small businesses and individuals with their legal needs. This is where he felt that he could really make the biggest difference.

Community Experience - Mr. Meriwether volunteers time to teach Judo to both children and adults. He holds a Black Belt in Judo and, when he competed in law school, he was the Florida State Champion in his weight division two years in a row. At the 2007 Georgia State Games, he won the gold in his division.

Harvard trained advocate providing dedicated, experienced and aggresive representation. Call today for free initial evaluation 770-753-9995.

John R. Coleman, Jr. (Bob) has established himself as a leader in the North Georgia area both in and out of Court. Bob handles a wide variety of Domestic, Personal Injury and Business matters. He is a frequent lecturer at Family, Juvenile and Business law seminars. His experience has also assisted him in his role as a registered mediator. His memberships include the Northeastern Bar Association, State Bar of Georgia, American Bar Association and ATLA. He graduated from Walter F. George, Mercer University in 1989 and has made Gainesville, Hall County his home.

Welcome to Jones Law, LLC. We are a full-service law firm located in Dawson County, Georgia. We specialize in civil & criminal litigation. Clients from the greater Atlanta and North Georgia areas are welcome! Please feel free to contact us with any questions. You may reach us by telephone at (678) 947-4687 or by e-mail at info@JonesLawLLC.com.

The following is a listing of the firm's typical areas of practice and may not necessarily include every type of law we handle. Please contact us with any inquiries or for additional information.

Personal Injury Claims: Automobile Accidents; Premise Liability; Product Liability; Medical Malpractice; Wrongful Death

Family Law / Domestic Matters: Prenuptial Agreements; Separation Agreements; Divorce Actions; Child Custody & Support Actions; Temporary Protective Orders; Modifications of Prior Decrees

Criminal Defense: Misdemeanor and Felony Charges; Probation/Parole/Pretrial Bond Violations; State, Superior, and Federal Court Cases

Probate & Estate Matters: Probate Litigation; Trust & Estate Planning; Powers of Attorney & Living Wills

Corporate Formation & Joint Ventures, Corporate Counsel

Commercial Collections

Business Litigation & Contractual Disputes

Employment-Related Litigation

Real Estate Litigation

Regina I. Edwards is the Owner and Managing Attorney of Edwards & Associates. Ms. Edwards has been practicing law in Georgia since 2001. She graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University after three years of study in Political Science, Spanish and French. Ms. Edwards received departmental awards in Spanish, Pre-Law, English and Mathematics. Ms. Edwards attended Tulane University School of Law where she concentrated in family law courses. While in law school, Ms. Edwards clerked for several prestigious law firms in a variety of areas, including defense litigation, fair housing litigation, and public interest.

Following her admission to the bar, Ms. Edwards expanded her experience to encompass many areas of civil litigation, to include divorces, custody, legitimation, public housing, Social Security, disability, domestic violence, education, consumer advocacy and unemployment. Ms. Edwards found her passion to be family law and domestic litigation cases, and began to focus her practice exclusively in those areas. Ms. Edwards has several years of complex family law litigation experience. She has tried contested matters involving issues such as domestic violence, child custody, child support, alimony, equitable division of marital property, and contempt actions before both judges and juries in Georgia's Superior and Juvenile courts.

Potential clients can be assured that Ms. Edwards possesses the necessary experience and dedication to family law, and will give each and every client the personal attention that their case requires. Ms. Edwards takes pride in handling each client and case personally, and will return all client phone calls the same day. The law firm is dedicated to using cutting-edge technology in order to process your case and file more efficiently and more cost-effectively for her clients. Ms. Edwards and her staff attend educational seminars and programs to ensure that the most current law and updates and available for use in your case.

When Ms. Edwards is not passionately representing her clients, Ms. Edwards enjoys travelling to different countries. She has travelled to more than 30 countries and speaks four languages. She also enjoys reading, racquetball, dance, running and spending time with family and friends.

Candace Williams was born and raised in Gainesville, Georgia. She is the daughter of Paulette Cain. Ms. Williams is a graduate of North Hall High School Class of 1993. She then attended Brenau Women's College and earned her degree in Political Science in 1997, cum laude. Ms. Williams was very active while attending Brenau. She served as her sorority Vice President, Alpha Chi Omega, for two years, Vice President of the Student Body, the college Senate Board, and many other groups. Ms. Williams graduated from Brenau with distinction from the Political Science/History Department. Ms. Williams then moved to Washington D.C. and worked for Congressman Bob Barr, then was offered a position as a lobbyist for a civil liberties organization. She left D.C. after four years to attend law school with her brother, Adam Cain. Ms. Williams attended law school at Mississippi College School of Law and earned her degree in only two years. She competed in the school wide Moot Court competition and became the honored overall Winner after being selected following oral argument before the Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. She later was selected to compete nationally at the American Bar Association National Moot Court Competition against the best law schools in the Country. Ms. Williams was named a semi-finalist after arguing before the Supreme Court of Texas. After early graduation from law school, Ms. Williams returned to her hometown to practice law. She was blessed to find Coleman & Chambers, LLP and immediately began clerking after taking the State Bar Exam. After successfully passing the Georgia Bar Exam, Ms. Williams became an Associate Attorney for Coleman & Chambers, LLP. She is now a law firm Partner, the first female partner of her esteemed group. Ms. Williams practices solely in the area of Family Law. This involves complex divorce cases, contempts, modifications, adoptions, legitimations, paternity actions, and reviewing various legal documents for domestic clients. Ms. Williams is extremely hands on with her clients, and is supported by a wonderful team in the Family Law Department.

Mr. Villanueva graduated from Emory University, Magna Cum Laude in 2000 majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics. Mr. Villanueva attended Syracuse University College of Law and obtained his juris doctor and masters in Economics from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2003. While at Syracuse Law, Mr. Villanueva had worked as an assistant to the Commercial Real Estate Practice Group at Pyramid Managment Group, Inc. in Syracuse, New York. Mr. Villanueva was an Associate Editor of the Syracuse Law and Technology Journal and member of the Corporate Counsel Certificate Program as well as the Law and Market Economy Program.

Mr. Villanueva is former judicial law clerk to the Honorable Diane J. Larsen of the Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, Illinois.

Mr. Villanueva practiced residential and commercial real estate, corporate law and bankruptcy and was previously employed by Krevolin & Horst, LLC, The Moss Law Firm, LLC and The Johnson Law Group ALG (Of Counsel) prior to opening his practice in 2007.

Mr. Villaneuva resides in Atlanta, Georgia and is a legal instructor at Gwinnett College where he continues to teach bankruptcy and family law. Mr. Villanueva is a probono volunteer Attorney with the Georgia Legal Services Program Piedmont Division in Atlanta as well as a member of the Gwinnett County Bar Association and the Syracuse Alumni Association of Atlanta.

Mr. Villanueva was born in 1977 in Agana, Guam (U.S. Territory) and is proud son of Chief Petty Officer Ricardo P. Villanueva United State Navy (deceased) and Nelly C. Villanueva, US Veterans Administration Registered Nurse and proud brother of Gigi Lynn Estrada Registered Nurse.

Mr. Villanueva enjoys playing guitar, singing, reading, volunteering, running and painting.

Teresa Garcia’s practice concentrates in the field of Family Law, Adoptions and Wills. She handles contested and uncontested divorces, child custody, child support, alimony, visitation, paternity/legitimation, amendment of birth certificates, name changes, enforcement of judicial orders, post-judgment agreements, family violence protective orders and prenuptial agreements.

Ms. Garcia handles contested and uncontested adoptions for relative adoptions, step-parent adoptions, independent adoptions (where adoptive parents are not related to the child), agency adoptions, adult adoptions, domestication of foreign adoptions, and re-adoptions.

Ms. Garcia also handles wills, estate planning, powers of attorney and guardianships.

She represents clients in all metro-Atlanta counties including the outer counties of Georgia. She is fluent in Spanish.

McLeod Law Firm, P.C. provides quality legal representation for its clients across North Georgia. Our lawyers provide legal services for the following types of cases: personal injury, divorce, family law, criminal law, and business law. We pledge to always keep our clients fully informed, to work efficiently, and to promptly respond to our clients' needs. We continually update our practice to incorporate the most appropriate communication, technological, and legal advances in an effort to better serve our clients. We are located in historical downtown Gainesville, Georgia.