Scrappy By Design: How a Small Firm Tackled Georgia’s Longest Trial Transcript—And What it Means Today
A few years ago, my firm—a small one at the time—was hired to take on the biggest appeal we’d ever seen. It was the longest criminal trial in Georgia history. The transcript? Somewhere around 50,000 pages.
There was no big-team bravado. Just me and an associate, acting as exclusive appellate counsel in consultation with trial counsel, who had spent a year in the trenches. We walked into court with our amended motion for new trial in hand.
Here’s how we got there.
We recruited three law school interns for the summer. Each one tackled a third of the transcript, preparing detailed digests of their sections. My associate then digested the digest. Together, we sculpted a comprehensive brief—built on raw record analysis, meticulous collaboration, and an obsessive attention to structure.
When we filed it, the lead counsel from the Fulton County DA’s office asked the court for an additional six months to respond. Their reason?
“We do not have the staff that defense counsel has.”
We laughed. Because “staff” meant three interns, an associate, and two tired brains running on caffeine and principle. What we did have was creativity, technology, and the kind of scrappy energy that doesn’t rely on headcount.
That same energy now fuels our civil practice.
Even before the world pivoted to remote work, our team was logging hours from coffee shops, home offices, and courthouses across the state. With smart use of PDF readers, messaging apps like Slack or Signal, and cloud-based case management software, we learned how to produce clean, effective work—without the bloat.
In criminal defense, thrift is a survival skill. Most cases are handled on a flat fee, which means there’s no incentive to bill endlessly. You learn to strip tasks down to what’s essential and make every moment count. That discipline stuck with us.
Today, even as we bill by the hour in civil litigation, we carry the same mindset: Keep things simple. Stay nimble. Leverage technology. Prioritize outcomes. Our bottom line is our clients’ bottom line.
We’re growing as a firm, but our philosophy remains. The lessons from criminal defense—the humility, the hustle, the lean architecture of smart lawyering—still guide how we operate every day.
At Our Core
We’re still the same lean, deliberate team that dissected 50,000 pages with a few interns and a shared sense of purpose. Whether we’re building out a defense in land development litigation or navigating the demands of civil trial work, we carry forward a truth learned early: Smart lawyering doesn’t require a big footprint—just a sharp focus and the will to move fast without breaking things.
And while the scope of our work has evolved, the spirit hasn’t. Efficiency isn’t just a cost-saving strategy—it’s our creative signature.
We’re not just building cases. We’re building a practice that stays lean, moves nimbly, and adapts boldly.
🔍 Key Takeaways
- Lean teams can outpace large ones when strategy, tech, and focused execution are the drivers.
- Internship programs, when thoughtfully managed, can meaningfully contribute to complex litigation.
- Tech tools—from cloud-based platforms to collaborative apps—aren’t just convenient; they’re transformative.
- Flat fee experience teaches discipline that translates into billable hour efficiency.
- Growth doesn’t require bloat. Nimble lawyering is your firm’s competitive edge.