ATLANTA – Ford & Harrison, a national labor and employment law firm, announced Wednesday the addition of three senior attorneys to their Atlanta office. Michael A. Coval and Joelle C. Sharman will be joining the firm as partners and Tiffany D. Downs will join as senior counsel. All three attorneys practiced employee benefits and ERISA litigation together at Carter & Ansley LLP, which recently merged with Smith Moore LLP, in Atlanta.
Michael Coval will continue to focus his practice on counseling and defending employers on issues under ERISA, specializing in litigation and class actions. Michael has extensive experience representing life, health and disability insurance companies as well as utilization review and managed health care organizations. He has published articles for the Defense Research Institute and the Torts Trial & Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association and has been a featured speaker at several seminars and symposia discussing issues related to ERISA, COBRA, managed care class actions and the defense of disability insurance claims. He received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 1987.
Joelle Sharman focuses her practice on the representation of life, health and disability insurers, self-funded plans and third-party administrators in litigation matters. Joelle has also counseled Fortune 500 companies in the defense of employment claims under Titles III and VII. She has published several articles discussing issues related to ERISA and has spoken on this topic at numerous seminars. Presently, Joelle serves as editor of submissions for In-House Defense Quarterly, a publication of the Defense Research Institute. She is AV® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and received her J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1994.
Tiffany Downs devotes her practice to representing life, health and disability insurers, third-party administrators, self-funded plans, ERISA plan sponsors and managed care entities in federal and state courts and administrative agencies and in arbitration. She has written several pieces on these topics and was a contributing author to ERISA Survey of Federal Courts published by the American Bar Association in 2005. Early in her career, Tiffany spent two years as law clerk to the Office of Administrative Law Judges at the United States Department of Labor. She received her J.D. from Loyola School of Law in 1994.
John Monroe, managing partner of the firm’s Atlanta office, welcomed the new attorneys. “I am confident that these three outstanding lawyers will add depth and experience to our national benefits practice,” he said.