James T. Johnston Jr., LLC - Atlanta, GA

JAMES T. JOHNSTON, JR., LLC, d/b/a JOHNSTON LAW FIRM was formed in 1995 by Attorney James T. (Jim) Johnston, Jr. after working at one of the largest law firms in the State and CPA firms in the world. Jim graduated from Young Harris College in 1970 with an Associate of Arts degree; Oglethorpe University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Business Administration; Georgia State University in 1977 with a Master of Professional Accountancy; and in 1985 from The University of Georgia School of Law with a Juris Doctor. He was a member of Beta Alpha Psi, a national accounting honor society; Alpha Chi, a national college honor scholarship society; and was twice the recipient of the Oglethorpe Merit Award for Scholarship. While in law school, he was a member of the Editorial Board of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, and was author of the Note, FIRPTA (The Foreign Investment in Real Property Act of 1980) Revisited on the Arrival of the Proposed Final Regulations, which dealt with taxation and investment in U.S. real property by foreigners. He became a Certified Public Accountant in 1979; in 1980 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants. In 1985 he was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia, admitted to practice before the Georgia Supreme Court and Georgia Court of Appeals in 1986, and in 1989 was admitted to the Bar of the U.S. Tax Court. Since 2000, he has been a Member of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Young Harris College, having served as Secretary of the Board, Chairman of the Athletic Affairs Committee and a member of the Executive Committee; he is actively involved in alumni affairs and charitable giving projects for the school.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Jim was a Certified Public Accountant with the international accounting firm of Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG), where he provided audit, tax and consulting services to banking, construction and manufacturing clients. He also spent three years as Controller for Storehouse, Inc., a multi-state furniture business, where he was responsible for all financial reporting and internal control systems for twenty (20) retail stores, two manufacturing plants, and two product distribution centers.

The Firm's practice areas include a variety of corporate and finance transactions, commercial loan transactions (including extensive past involvement with government guaranteed loans), business mergers and acquisitions; tax-free reorganizations, private securities transactions, commercial real estate sale and acquisition, commercial litigation; estate planning, including business succession planning for corporate executives and business owners. The Firm strives to provide efficient and effective legal representation and counseling to businesses and financial institutions in their business activities.