• Former president of State Bar of Georgia, which includes all lawyers and judges in the state.
  • Received Tradition of Excellence Award for lifetime achievement.
  • Lead author of eleven annual editions of a book on Georgia personal injury practice.
  • First Georgia lawyer to earn three board certifications from the National Board of Trial Advocacy, in Civil Trial Advocacy, Civil Pretrial Advocacy, and Truck Accident Law.

An Atlanta-based trial attorney, Mr. Shigley has been representing individuals, families and small businesses in cases of serious personal injury, wrongful death and insurance disputes statewide in Georgia for over 40 years.

A graduate of Furman University and Emory University Law School (where he has been an adjunct instructor in trial techniques and small firm practice), Mr. Shigley also completed the Ultimate Trial Advocacy course at Harvard Law School, an executive education program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and several regional programs of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College.

Mr. Shigley is also a Registered Mediator in Georgia and serves as a neutral in litigated cases at Miles Mediation & Arbitration Service. In 2022, he completed Certificates in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution at Harvard Law School.

Mr. Shigley has served in numerous professional leadership roles including:

  • President, State Bar of Georgia (2011-12). The State Bar includes over 45,000 attorneys and judges licensed in Georgia. The State Bar presidency was a virtually full-time volunteer commitment for a year while still practicing law full-time. It involved intense interaction the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government and all classes and levels of judges statewide, a 150-member board of governors, 16-member executive committee and staff of 75 in three offices in Atlanta, Savannah and Tifton.
  • Chair, Institute for Continuing Legal Education in Georgia Board of Trustees (2012-13). ICLE sponsors hundreds of continuing education seminars for lawyers in Georgia every year.
  • Chair, American Association for Justice (AAJ) Motor Vehicle Collision, Highway & Premises Liability Section (2015-16), which includes over 2,500 trial lawyers in all 50 states and specialized litigation groups on:
    • Trucking Litigation
    • Bus Litigation
    • Traumatic Brain Injury
    • Spinal Cord Injury
    • Motorcycle Litigation
    • Bicycle Litigation
    • Resort Torts Litigation and
    • Inadequate Security Litigation.

During Mr. Shigley’s chairmanship, the section sponsored high quality national continuing legal education programs in Montreal, Boca Raton, New Orleans and Los Angeles.

In addition to these professional leadership roles, Mr. Shigley has received many professional honors including:

  • In 2012, the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission included him in the “short list” of nominees submitted to the Governor to consider for appointment to the Court of Appeals of Georgia. In 2018, he ran for an open seat on the Court of Appeals, received more votes than the person who was elected Governor, but still came in second in the nonpartisan primary for Judge of the Court of Appeals.
  • First Georgia lawyer to earn three board certifications in his practice area — Truck Accident Law, Civil Trial Practice and Civil Pretrial Practice — from the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification
  • Lead author of Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation & Practice (Thomson Reuters West, 2010-19), which has been quoted as an authority several times by the Supreme Court of Georgia and federal courts.
  • Diplomate of National College of Advocacy, based on 400 hours of high level national continuing legal education in trial advocacy
  • Chapter author for the 2016 edition of Handling Motor Vehicle Accident Cases, also published by Thomson Reuters.
  • “AV” (highest) rating in the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory (since 1989)
  • “Super Lawyer” rating in Atlanta Magazine (since inception in 2004)
  • “Legal Elite” ranking in Georgia Trend magazine (since inception in 2005)
  • “Who’s Who in Law” listing in Atlanta Business Chronicle
  • Listed in the Bar Register or Preeminent Lawyers (since 1995)
  • Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys Board of Regents
  • Board member of the American Association for Justice Trucking Litigation Group.
  • Chair of the board of trustees of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education in Georgia (2012-13); Trustee (2007-present)
  • Trustee of the Institute for Continuing Judicial Education in Georgia (2013-14).
  • Member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates (2013).
  • Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform, appointed by Governor Nathan Deal (2011-13).
  • Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency (2012-13)
  • Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism (2011-12).
  • Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution (2011-12).
  • Georgia Courts Automation Commission (2008-10)
  • Judicial Council of Georgia Standing Committee on Technology(2015-present).
  • National Conference of Bar Presidents (2010-13).
  • Southern Conference of Bar Presidents (2010-13).
  • Chair, State Bar of Georgia Tort & Insurance Practice Section (1994-95).
  • Chair, Georgia Insurance Law Institute (1994)

Mr. Shigley has published numerous articles in legal journals and made scores of continuing legal education presentations at both state and national levels.

A “lawyer’s lawyer” and “judge’s lawyer,” he has represented lawyers and judges in sensitive personal and professional matters. He has been chosen by opposing lawyers to serve as a neutral mediator in hundreds of cases. See reviews from clients and colleagues.

Often on the leading edge in new developments, he launched the first law firm website in the Southeast in 1996 and one of the first lawyer blogs in the Southeast in 2005.

He has handled successfully many cases involving injuries arising from autotruck and bus accidents,dangerous premises and defective products, including:

Representative Cases: All cases are different, and past performance does not guarantee future results, but here are a few representative cases.

  • $20 million recovery for occupants of a college baseball team bus that crashed in Georgia. Mr. Shigley led in organization the joint prosecution groups and represented 10 of 20 team members on the bus, whose individual recoveries were determined by an agreed formula.
  • $11 million confidential settlement for two family members who lost limbs in a car crash. Mr. Shigley organized the joint prosecution team and represented one of the family members individually.
  • $9.3 million recovery apportioned among 13 plaintiffs on an agreed formula, for a van load of cheerleaders in a crash caused by failure of a tire. Mr. Shigley led in organization of the joint prosecution group and  represented one of the families with a wrongful death claim.
  • $6 million confidential settlement in a legally complex truck crash case. Mr. Shigley organized the joint prosecution group, and was lead counsel for two wrongful death cases and one head injury case.
  • $5.7 million confidential settlement of a medical malpractice case. Mr. Shigley was co-counsel for the decedent’s family.
  • $3 million confidential settlement of truck crash case in Southwest Georgia.
  • $2.3 million jury for client who suffered complex leg fracture in head on collision with truck operated for interstate motor carrier.. This was at the time the largest jury verdict in history of Gordon County, GA.
  • $1.25 million policy limits settlement for a young man who was t-boned in an intersection in Cobb County suffering a brain injury, despite evidence that he was talking on the phone with his gay partner while turning left in an intersection.
  •  $1.3 million settlement in Rome, Georgia – $300,000 above insurance policy limits — for family of young man killed when rear-ended by tractor trailer on interstate at night.
  •  $1.2 million jury verdict in Fulton County for woman with head and neck injuries who had consumed cocaine and tequila with the driver of sports car in which she was a passenger.
  • Confidential settlement of logging truck wrongful death case for 12 times the amount of insurance coverage on the truck itself after litigating insurance coverage, bankruptcy and wrongful death issues in three separate courts.
  • Obtained confidential multi-million dollar settlement against auto manufacturer where defective design of anti-lock brake system led to crash of minivan, resulting in quadriplegia and death.
  • Obtained confidential seven figure settlement against manufacturer of sports utility vehicle where defective design of passenger restraint system and roof led to quadriplegia.
  • Served as co-counsel in automotive products liability case resulting in $6 million jury verdict for defect that led to passenger ejection in rollover.
  • Secured confidential settlement for 6 1/2 times the amount of insurance coverage on the car in a car-motorcycle collision in south Georgia.
  • $1 million policy limit in wrongful death case against small trucking company for Georgia family for death of a wife and mother killed in a crash in Tennessee.
  • $850,000 settlement during jury deliberation at end of a trial in Macon for neck fusion injury for man struck by dump truck.
  • $750,000 for airline passenger who suffered ankle fracture when struck by motorized cart in airport terminal concourse.