Name: Tyler McCormick Love
Title: Partner
Employer Name: Roden + Love, LLC
Location: Savannah, GA
Number of years there: 5
School of Law graduation year: 2009
Other degree(s)/institution(s)/year(s): B.A. / University of the South-Sewanee / 2004
1. Why did you choose to attend UGA School of Law?
After graduating from Sewanee undergrad, I ended up in Atlanta working as a legal assistant/paralegal for a small firm. Once I actually committed to the decision of pursuing a law degree, I had been in Georgia long enough to qualify for in-state tuition. After looking at many schools, I felt UGA was hands down the best value for an amazing school...and Athens seemed awesome.
2. What is your most memorable experience from your time at law school?
The first time I got called on 1L year in Torts with Professor Eaton. I was really nervous about getting called on in that class because Professor Eaton could occasionally get pretty riled up and stay on one student for a LONG time. Somehow, that day he caught me on a reading that I had really prepared for, and I was in a complete zone answering questions for about 20 minutes. Afterwards he even complimented me handling it so well. Still being in my first month of law school, that experience meant a lot for my confidence going forward.
3. Where was your favorite place to study during law school?
Balcony of the library. We had a regular group, the balcony family, that would study there, although I am not sure we ever ended up getting much studying done.
4. What advice would you give to current School of Law students?
Don't obsess over getting a job in "Big Law." That kind of job may suit some people and be a rewarding career, but it is absolutely not, in itself, an indication of success professionally or personally. I was sure I wanted to do corporate law in a big firm. I was initially disappointed that I didn't have more success attaining a job in a big Atlanta firm coming out of law school, but today I thank my lucky stars that I didn't end up on that path.
5. Please give a brief description of your responsibilities as the founding partner of your firm.
I am the primary manager of our workers' compensation and mass tort departments. I continue to handle a large number of personal injury cases (mostly auto accident and premises liability) as well, but as we have added additional associate attorneys, I have shifted some of the focus of my practice to planning and coordinating our various mass tort projects that include representing several hundred clients against pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
6. What do you enjoy most about your job? What is the most rewarding aspect?
A truly thankful client at the end of case can be very rewarding. It can be a pretty tough road during the case, and many of our clients are going through an extremely difficult experience physically and financially. To see the end product and know you helped a person with a devastating injury is very rewarding.
7. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your field right now?
I am sure Eric will talk about self-driving cars so ... the political climate presents a lot of unknowns for us. Tort reform has been a buzzword since people like Karl Rove hit the scene in the '90s, and that movement has been inconsistent in its success, but it really does have the potential to move the goal posts, or remove them entirely, for an enormous amount of people seeking justice. Luckily, Georgia has strong organizations supporting civil justice that have helped to counteract attempts to limit citizens' right to obtain justice through the legal system.
8. What do you enjoy doing in your free time? What are your hobbies?
I enjoy hanging out with my family, playing golf, shooting at the gun club and attending live music events. Also, stumbling on a new show to watch on Netflix is embarrassingly exciting.
9. How do you stay up to date on legal issues and trends?
Eric and I try to attend as many conferences as we can, especially on mass torts. That is a very interesting niche in the practice and it is always interesting to see the updates on litigation and the new emerging cases. We also get a number of legal magazines at the office that I like to peruse for articles of interest.
10. When you look out your office window, what do you see?
I see the side of a tan GMC Yukon (not sure of the year). It parks there every day. When we first opened our firm, we rented office space on an upper floor of a downtown building in Savannah, and we could see the river and most of downtown. Beautiful views! Last year we bought a building in midtown. While the new building has been a great move for us, especially in terms of space, parking, and convenience, my view is now a tan GMC Yukon ...