S. Gardner Culpepper, III

Gardner Culpepper is a trial lawyer representing plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil matters. He focuses his defense practice on contract and licensing disputes, UCC matters, and business torts, most recently in the manufacturing, healthcare and telecommunications sectors. Gardner also represents many clients in personal injury, premises liability, products liability, insurance coverage, and restrictive covenant litigation. In 2006, he was named one of Georgia's "Rising Stars."

Prior to joining Ashe Rafuse & Hill in 2007, Gardner was a partner at a large national Atlanta-based law firm. In 2000-2001, Gardner took a four-month leave from his civil practice to represent indigent criminal defendants at the Fulton County Public Defender's Office. Gardner is also a co-author of the most recent version of the Georgia Appellate Practice Handbook.

Education and Training

Gardner obtained his J.D. degree in 1995 from the Vanderbilt School of Law, where he was an associate editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review and the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Book Award for Property.

Upon graduation from Vanderbilt, he served as a judicial clerk to The Honorable Jerome Turner, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

He obtained his undergraduate degree in 1992 from Dartmouth College, where he graduated magna cum laude and received formal Citations for Excellence in multiple disciplines.

Representative Experience

  • Defense counsel to one of the country's largest manufacturers of building and paper products in putative class action involving UCC warranty and product liability claims.
  • Plaintiff's counsel in a multi-million dollar contract action successfully pursued by one of the country's largest for-profit healthcare entities.
  • Counsel to one of the world's largest wireless telecommunications companies in multiple international contract and intellectual property disputes with hundreds of millions of dollars at issue.
  • Plaintiff's counsel successfully establishing and preserving insurance coverage for corporate and individual clients.
  • Counsel to one of the country's largest investment banks in restrictive covenant litigation.
  • Defense counsel in multiple defamation and business tort cases throughout the Southeast for one of the largest telecommunications services providers in the United States.
  • Trial counsel in multiple medical malpractice actions, representing physicians insured by one of the country's largest physician-owned malpractice insurance carriers.