Jonathan E. Hawkins

Jonathan E. Hawkins is a lawyer, author, and podcast host. Since 2010, he has helped hundreds of attorneys and law firms navigate the challenges of running a law practice.

Jonathan serves as Outside General Counsel to law firms and assists lawyers in starting law firms, law firm structuring, law firm partnership agreements, lateral moves, separation agreements, law firm dissolutions, law firm mergers and acquisitions, internal and external sales of law practices, and succession planning.

He is the author of The Law Firm Life Cycle, a book that guides law firm owners through patterns, pitfalls, and proven strategies for every stage of a law firm’s growth. He also hosts Founding Partner Podcast, where he interviews founding attorneys and provides guidance on various issues relevant to law firm owners.

In 2018, Jonathan founded Law Firm GC. Prior to that, he was a partner in two business law boutique firms.

Over the years, Jonathan has worked with firms of all sizes. From solo practitioners to organizations with more than two hundred attorneys, from start- ups to those generating nine-figure revenues, he’s done it all. His clients span nearly every practice area—personal injury, family law, immigration, criminal defense, insurance, corporate, real estate, employment, estate planning, and highly specialized niche practice areas people have never heard of.

He’s been named as a Top 100 Lawyer in Georgia by SuperLawyers and has an AV Preeminent Peer rating from Martindale-Hubbell. In 2016, he was recognized as one of the Most Influential Attorneys in Georgia.

Jonathan is a third-generation Georgia Tech engineer and second-generation lawyer.  If he wasn’t building a law firm, he’d be a drummer in a Reggae band.

He went to law school at the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was the Managing Editor of the Georgia Law Review. Before that he graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Between undergrad and law school, he took some time off and lived in Costa Rica for a few months to learn Spanish, then moved to Colorado to work and learn how to snowboard. After that, he decided it was time to get to work.

During his career, he has served in various capacities in state and federal government, including:

• Legal Counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the Georgia House of Representatives
• Outside Counsel to the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission
• Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, Atlanta Circuit Supervisory Panel Member
• Judicial Clerkship with the Honorable John F. Nangle of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Georgia