Hunter Hughes serves as a mediator, arbitrator, and special master. He received his B.A. and J.D. degrees with honors from the University of Virginia.

Mr. Hughes is a retired Distinguished Fellow in the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and has been selected for inclusion in multiple editions of Woodward/White’s “Best Lawyers in America,” Chambers’ USA “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business,” “Who’s Who in American Law, Law & Politics,” Atlanta Magazine’s Top 10 and Top 100 “Georgia Super Lawyers Top 10 and Top 100 and Georgia Trend’s “Legal Elite.”

He has served as a neutral in scores of national class, collective, and mass actions (including mediating Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney, FedEx, Abercrombie, Viacom, Disney, NBC, Time Warner, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Publix, Boeing, Wal-Mart, Dell, Xerox, Lowe’s, Cigna, Lockheed, Credit Suisse, Mutual of Omaha, General Dynamics, Boeing, Bechtel, Intrawest, AXA, and Allscripts class and collective action cases) with a focus on securities fraud (e.g. 10b-5 and Section 11 of the ’33 Act claims) as well as ERISA (e.g. 401k breach of fiduciary duty claims), employment (pattern or practice and adverse impact discrimination and 216(b) FLSA claims) mass tort, business, and insurance coverage disputes.

Mr. Hughes is the past Chairman and Vice Chairman of the EEO Committee Administrative Section of the ABA. He was President of the Corporate Counsel Section of the Atlanta Bar Association and served as Program Co-Chair of the EEO Committee of Labor Section of the American Bar Association. He is the past Program Chairman of the American Employment Law Council. He also served as an arbitrator on the American Arbitration Association Commercial and Employment Panels.

Mr. Hughes has written numerous articles and publications, including “How Our Subconscious Bias Impacts the Negotiations,” American Journal of Mediation; Chapter 26, “Mediating Class Actions: How Mediators Operate and What They Want,” How ADR Works, BNA Books; “Class Actions in Arbitrations,” A Treatise Project of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.

Mr. Hughes has served as lead trial counsel in hundreds of cases, including nationwide class and mass actions. He has also acted as lead counsel in arbitrations and numerous proceedings before state and federal agencies.

He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Virginia Law School and also has been a speaker throughout the country at several hundred seminars and conferences on various topics, including trial practice, alternate dispute resolution, settlement strategies, damages, negotiation skills, and a wide range of substantive matters.

Mr. Hughes is admitted to practice in the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia, the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court.

RECENTLY MEDIATED CASES

• In Re Miller Energy Resources, Inc. Securities Litigation, United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee, Knoxville Division, (Securities Class Action)
• Byron Brown, et al vs. Ambow Education Holding Ltd. et al.,  United States District Court for the Northern District of California, (Securities Class Action)
• Bristol County Retirement System, et al. v. Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc., Glen E. Tullman, William J. Davis, and Lee Shapir  (Securities Class Action) United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division; (Securities Class Action)
• Abbott, et al. v. Lockheed Martin Corp., et al. (ERISA Class Action) United States Court for the Southern District of Illinois
• Tardio v. New Oriental Education & Technology Group (Securities Class Action) S.D. New York
• Frater v. Hemispherz Biopharma, Inc., William A. Carter, David Strayer and Wayne Pambianchi ( Securities Class Action) United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania;
• Biotechnology Value Fund v. Celera Corp, Credit Suisse (Securities Class action) United States District Court, Northern District of California
• Kruger, et al. v. Novant Health, Inc., et al (ERISA Class Action) United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
• Francis Howard, et al. v. Chanticleer Holdings, Inc.; Dawson James Securities, Inc.; Creason & Associates, P.L.L.C., et al. (Securities Class Action) United States Court for the Southern District of Florida
• Feyko, et al. v. Yuhe International, Inc., Zhentao Gao, Hu Gang, Jiang Yingjun, Roth Capital Partners, LLC and Child, Van Wagoner & Bradshaw, PLLC; aAd Partners LP, et al. v. Rodman & Renshaw, LLC; Brean Murray, Carret & Co., LLC, and Global Hunter Securities, LLC;(Securities Class Action)  United States District Court, Central District of California,
• Beverly Kanawi, Salvador Aquino, et al. v. Bechtel Corporation, The Bechtel Trust and Thrift Plan Administrative Committee, The Bechtel Trust and Thrift Plan Committee; Fremont Investment Advisors, and Peggi Knox, (ERISA Class Action) United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco Division
• Kim Nolte, et al. v. CIGNA Corporation, Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company, et al. (ERISA Class Action) United States District Court, Central District of Illinois, Urbana Division
• Brenda J. Otte, Administratrix of the Estate of Gladys Reynolds, et al. v. Life Insurance Company of North America, et al. (ERISA Class Action) United States District Court, District of Massachusetts
• Betty Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart, Inc., United States District Court, (Class Action Discrimination), 131 S. Ct. 2541 (2011)
• Mary Beck, et al. v. The Boeing Company, et al. (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, Western District of Washington, Seattle
• Eduardo Gonzalez, et al. v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., et al.; Elizabeth West and Jennifer LU v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc.; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, Northern District of California
• Beaver Co. Employees Retirement Fund v. Tile Shop Holdings, et al (Securities Class Action), United States District Court Northern District Minnesota.
• Derrick Satchell, et al. v. Federal Express Corporation d/b/a FedEx Express, (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, Northern District of California
• Amochaev, et al. v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. d/b/a Smith Barney, (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, Northern District of California
• Abdallah, et al. v. The Coca-Cola Company, (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia
• Carpenters Health & Welfare Fund, et al. v. The Coca-Cola Company, et al., (Securities Class Action), United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, (Served as Special Master)
• Jill Hubley, et al. v. Dell Inc., (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, Western District of Texas, Austin Division
• In Re: TV Writers Cases; (Multiple Class Actions Discrimination), Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, Central Civil West
• Van Hove GCV, et al. v. Universal Travel Group, (Securities Class Action), United States District Court, District of New Jersey
• Daisy Jaffe, et al. v. Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. f/k/a Morgan Stanley DW, Inc. (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco/Oakland Division, Class Action
• Joanne Augst-Johnson, et al. v. Morgan Stanley DW, Inc., (Class Action Discrimination), United States District Court, District of Columbia
• Will, et al. v. General Dynamics Corp., et al. (ERISA Class Action), United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois
• Randolph Sewell, et al. v. D’Alessandro & Woodyard, Inc., K. Hovnanian First Homes, L.L.C., et al. (Business Litigation), United States District Court, for the Middle District of Florida,
• Reserve Metropolitan District No. 1, The Town of Mt. Crested Butte, et al.  v. Reserve Metropolitan District No. 2, The Board of County Commissioners of the County of Gunnison, Colorado and Melody Parks, Treasurer of the County of Gunnison, CO (Business/Insurance Dispute)  District Court of Gunnison county, Colorado, Gunnison, CO
• Cadillac Jack, Inc. v. Chartis Claims, Inc. and National Union Insurance Company (Insurance Dispute) (pre-litigation)
• In Re Noram Resources, Inc. and Ausam Energy Corp., Debtors, William G. West, Trustee, Plaintiff v. Mark Avery, et al. (Business Dispute), United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas
• Byron Brown, et al. v. Ambow Education Holding Ltd. et al (Securities Class Action), the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
• Spano, et al. v. The Boeing Company, et al (ERISA Class Action) United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
• Krueger, et al. v. Ameriprise Financial, (ERISA Class Action) United States District Court for the District of Minnesota
• Brinker Restaurant Corporation v. Superior Court, (FLSA Collective Action) Supreme Court of the State of California