Biography

William (“Will”) Horkan is leader of the Firm’s Commercial Litigation Group. Will has extensive experience serving clients in complex business, partnership, employment, insurance, probate, and agricultural disputes including successfully prosecuting and defending a number of multimillion-dollar disputes for various clients.

Will also has significant experience counseling clients on their corporate governance and regulatory matters. Will is a registered mediator and arbitrator.

Will is a member of the Firm’s Data Privacy/Security Team, is certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals as a Certified Privacy Professional for the U.S. Sector (CIPP/US), and assists clients with privacy compliance programs and incident response preparedness, tabletops, investigation, response, notification, and recovery.

Will received the Judge William Augustus Bootle Professionalism Award from the Macon Bar Association in 2017. Will was named to the Fulton County Daily Report’s “On the Rise” list in 2020 and selected for inclusion in the 2021 annual list of Rising Stars by Super Lawyers Magazine.

Practice Areas

• Agriculture Law
• Arbitration
• Business and Partnership Litigation
• Corporate Governance
• Estate and Trust Disputes
• Probate Administration
• Mediation
• Employment Law
• Data and Information Privacy and Security

Representative Matters

• Represented a local government to a judgment in its favor against claims of violations of the Georgia bid and gratuities laws.
• Procured a defense award for an AIP in an arbitration of claims under a Whole Farm Revenue Protection Policy.
• Procured a judgment for a Georgia company against a corporation in the United Kingdom for breach of contract and default.
• Composed a Privacy Policy and Data Breach Response Plan for a multibillion-dollar corporation.
• Served as local counsel to a Fortune 100 company in a TCPA Class Action claim.
• Composed a TCPA compliance plan for a multibillion-dollar corporation.
• Prosecuted and procured all available statutory damages for a landowner victimized by timber theft.
• Procured the appointment of a third-party fiduciary to manage the administration of a multimillion-dollar farm and timber estate while it met its responsibilities under IRC §§ 2032a and 6166.

Professional Organizations/Activities

• Georgia Business Court Rules Commission, Member
• American Bar Association, Member
• American Bar Foundation, Fellow
• State Bar of Georgia, Member
• Macon Bar Association, Vice-President
• The Judge William Augustus Bootle Inn of Court, Past-President
• International Association of Privacy Professionals, Member
• American Agricultural Law Association, Member
• The Georgia Defense Lawyers Association, Member
• DRI, Member
• Leadership Macon, Class of 2015
• Gray-Jones County Chamber of Commerce, Past Chairman
• Macon YLD, Past President

Presentations + Publications

• Current Trends on Employment Law – Oconee Fall Line Technical College
• The Thief in the Night, Georgia Forestry Today, September/October 2012
• Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmers Convention 2013 – Legacy Panel Moderator
• Employer Mandate – Strategic Planning Can Change the Patient Protection and
• Affordable Care Act from a Roadblock to a Stepping Stone, Georgia Forestry Today, November/December 2013
• Landowner Liability for Dead or Decaying Trees, Georgia Forestry Today, May/June 2014
• 2017 American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention Presentation – Reverse National Origin Discrimination, January 2017
• 2018 Agriculture Law CLE – Crop Insurance Litigation, March 2018
• 2020 American Forestry Conference Legal Session – Immediate Legal Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic at Home and Abroad, July 2020
• Are You Properly Obtaining Security Interests in Undisbursed Crop Insurance Proceeds, Georgia Communities First, Official Publication of the Community Bankers Association of Georgia, July/August 2020

Education

Will graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia in 2006 with a B.S.A. in Agribusiness. While at the University of Georgia, Will was a member of AGHON and the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Will was also selected as a Congressional Agricultural Fellow and worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry during the summer of 2005. Will then attended the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University and obtained his J.D. degree in 2009.  

Admitted

• Georgia, 2009
• Supreme Court of Georgia, 2010
• Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2010
• Middle District of Georgia, 2011
• Southern District of Georgia, 2015
• Northern District of Georgia, 2020

Certifications

• Certified Civil Mediator 
• Certified Arbitrator

Administrative/Legal Assistant Contact

Name: Pansy Mullis
Title: Legal Assistant
Phone: 478.749.9986