Attorney John Steakley is a 1996 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. He began his career as the Special Prosecutor for Drug Crimes for a multi-county, multi-agency drug task force in Tennessee, where he represented the State of Tennessee in thousands of felony and misdemeanor cases in a 5-county judicial district.
He was selected by the National College of District Attorneys to attend advanced legal seminars in Santa Fe, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Houston. In 2000, he was appointed to the position of Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee by Attorney General Janet Reno, and reappointed again the following year.
In 2001, he accepted an offer from the Gwinnett County District Attorneys Office and spent the next four years representing the State of Georgia in several hundred serious felony cases. He continues to handle the most serious of cases, often winning outright dismissals of charges, or significant reductions for his clients. For more about the type of cases Mr. Steakley has handled, click here: Selected Criminal Cases
In 2006 he was a founding partner of Crosby, Haldi & Steakley, LLC, located in Decatur. Now in private practice since 2007 as John A. Steakley, P.C., headquartered in Marietta, he represents individuals in a wide variety of matters, using his experience to provide his clients with quality legal representation. He is licensed to practice law in both Tennessee and Georgia, but focuses almost solely on Georgia.
In 2012, the Georgia Supreme Court certified him as a Mentor for the Transition Into Law Practice Program, serving as a role model and mentoring young attorneys just entering into the practice of law. This came on the heels of years of coaching the Emory University Law School's Mock Trial Team in how to be effective and successful courtroom litigators.
In addition to advocating for his clients in the courtroom, Mr. Steakley is a strong proponent of individual liberties. He co-authored a scholarly work on whether the United States Constitution afforded citizens the right to record their interactions with police even in private places. This article has garnered attention and raised awareness about this timely legal-technology issue, and was named one of the "Must Read Articles of 2012" by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
He is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, the Tennessee Supreme Court, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, the Tennessee Court of Civil Appeals, the State Bar of Georgia, the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Gwinnett County Bar Association, and Cobb County Bar Association.
When not practicing law, Mr. Steakley is an instrument-rated private pilot who enjoys flying around the Southeast. He has been a pilot since 1999.
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