VETERAN ATLANTA BASED PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY GARY MARTIN HAYS BRINGS SAFETY EDUCATION AND CRIME PREVENTION TO THE FOREFRONT WITH HIS ORGANIZATION 'KEEP GEORGIA SAFE'

By Jonathan Widran

In the late 80s, when Gary Martin Hays was working on his J.D. from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, his outstanding academic record led to a position on Mercer’s Law Review and he became Vice President of the Student Bar Association.

That all sounds great to use as part of cherished law school anecdotes over 20 years later, but in truth Hays also recalls those days as “three lean years of eating noodles, which made it easy to fall for the lure of big dollars to go and work for a big firm representing insurance companies.” Working for the Goliaths gave him the keen insight he would use later when he hopped the fence and started helping the Davids. He did litigation for plaintiffs at a local firm for three years and then, in 1993, launched Hays & Maysilles, his own Atlanta based practice, with another attorney from that firm.

Since Mr. Maysilles’ retirement in 1999, the firm has continued as the Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, specializing in personal injury, car and truck accidents, wrongful death, premises liability, workers’ compensation and pharmaceutical claims. Several of these associates also used to work for insurance companies but now focus exclusively in personal injury practice areas. Over the past 18 years, the firm—based in Duluth, in suburban Atlanta-- has helped over 25,000 victims and their families. The total recovery during that time is over $225 million.

Recognized in Atlanta Magazine as one of Georgia’s top workers’ compensation lawyers, Hays’ numerous accolades include being selected as one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Georgia since 2007 by the American Trial Lawyers Association and being recognized by Lawdragon as one of the leading Plaintiffs’ Lawyers in America. From 2004-2006, he was selected three years in a row as a Georgia Super Lawyer in Worker’s Compensation Law.

The Hays & Associates website boldly declares that they have two requirements: the staff and attorneys must be good at what they do, and they must care about people. The promise is that each client or prospective client is treated with respect and courtesy. In addition to local and regional cases, the firm handles a great deal of mass tort claims for such things as drug recalls and medical devices (such as the Depuy hip replacement recall).

“As funny as this sounds,” Hays says, “in my early days as an attorney when I worked for the insurance companies, I thought it would be an honor, but I soon realized it was like a sausage making process. And I never received cookies and cakes to thank me for a job well done. That sounds trivial on the surface but to me it’s a huge thing when my clients take the time to thank us for our hard work on their behalf. We see everyone as an individual and don’t treat them like they’re just another file. Every car wreck or on the job injury has a unique effect on the people involved. It hurts the whole family. Some people live paycheck to paycheck and even a small injury can throw their life into disarray. I’ve seen divorces and bankruptcies happen as a result.”

Hays’ desire to work with these types of clients took him back temporarily to the days of financial struggle, but he sees the few years it took to get Hays & Maysilles off the ground as a great time of his life where he devoted himself to being the best lawyer and upstart businessman he could be. “Then as now, what separates me from other lawyers who do the same kind of work I do is the elbow grease and hard work I put into it,” he says. “I didn’t grow up in Atlanta and wasn’t part of the good old boy network, so beyond referrals, I had to find creative ways to let people know I was out there, including using the power of TV advertising.”

When Hays isn’t working hard on behalf of his clients, he is helping better the world via community service to some key organizations. His brother Chuck’s valiant battle with colon cancer led to his working with the American Cancer Society. He was awarded the Georgia Trial Lawyer’s Community Service Award in 2007 for his charitable endeavors for the ACS, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and Dream House for Medically Fragile Children. Gary has also served on the Advisory Council for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Georgia.

In 2008, the murder of three local young women in a 64 day time frame inspired Hays—a devoted father of three young daughters—to launch the non-profit organization Keep Georgia Safe (www.keepgeorgiasafe.org). Its mission is to provide safety education and crime prevention training in Georgia. Keep Georgia Safe has trained over 80 state and local law enforcement officers in CART (Child Abduction Response Teams) so the first responders will know what to do in the event a child is abducted in Georgia.

Working with the educational arm of the Department of Justice, Hays also helps train law enforcement officers to be effective parts of Child Abduction Response Teams (CART). Because 74 percent of abducted children are murdered within the first three hours after their disappearance, it is crucial that police are well equipped and organized in order to launch and maintain the quickest and most effective search.

Hays completed Child Abduction Response Team training with the National AMBER Alert program through the U.S. Department of Justice and Fox Valley Technical College. In addition to helping raise over $2 million for various charities, his law firm has given away 1,000 bicycle helmets and 14 college scholarships.

“Not to fault our teachers in any way, but I do not feel our schools are teaching our kids how to be safe,” he says. “The once a year ‘Safety Day’ programs are not enough.” Hays is a big proponent of radKIDS, the nation’s leading child safety program, and he has helped train many kids in the curriculum.

Hays is pleased to report that because of radKIDS training, 73 children have avoided abduction. So far some local private schools have been open to having their students trained. His ultimate aim is to have it instituted in all public schools in Georgia, “because safety training shouldn’t be only for the rich.”

“I see a great parallel between my work as an attorney and working on behalf of these great and important causes outside the office,” Hays says. “Unfortunately, sometimes it’s about those terribly sad moments when a parent loses a child in an accident, knowing that if the driver had not been driving that tractor trailer while fatigued, it would never have occurred. The work I do on behalf of these families can serve to prevent such accidents from happening in the future. Likewise, it breaks my heart having laws named after abducted children. Hopefully, the positive outcome of my work on behalf of both the firm and Keep Georgia Safe is that such terrible things are less likely to occur.

I don’t like stepping away from the practice any more than necessary,” he adds, “but Keep Georgia Safe is a great passion of mine and so much remains to be done. There are some wonderfully surreal moments along the way. I never dreamed, for instance, that I would someday be in a classroom setting with 80 law enforcement officers learning to be certified in CART!”

Hays is able to split his time about 50-50 between the firm and his outside related endeavors because of his great ability to delegate and the great talents of the five attorneys on staff. The roots of his charity work go back to 2003, when he had to be out eight weeks to have brain surgery for a form of spina bifida called chiari malformation. He disseminated his caseload throughout the office so that there would be no delay and the cases could be shepherded through the legal process. When Hays recovered, he decided to take a more managerial role in the firm to allow him time to do more charitable work.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of Hays’ ultimate success as a lawyer is the way his passion for social justice ties in with the profession his parents probably thought he would go into: the ministry. His father had a degree in church administration and revitalization and the family moved all over Southern Alabama and Northwest Florida when Hays was a kid as his dad helped build up the next congregation.

“I guess I just didn’t want to work on Sundays, or weekends for that matter,” Hays laughs. “But I respect the fact that my dad’s work helped keep us a close knit family. I’ve been proud of my ability, through the grace of God, to live a balanced life, not just on the professional side but also in the community. A few years ago, I received a community service award from Georgia Trial Lawyers, but I was equally honored last year to receive a Volunteer of the Year award from my daughter’s elementary school!”