Changes afoot at longtime law firm Wood, Odom & Edge

Sunday, December 18, 2011
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By JEFF BISHOP jbishop@newnan.com With the recent retirement of law partner Gus Wood and with Arthur B. "Skin" Edge's shift of focus to the state Capitol in Atlanta, local attorney Parnell Odom has decided it's time to make a few changes at the longtime downtown Newnan law firm of Wood, Odom & Edge. After this month, the firm will close its Jefferson Street office. Wood, Odom & Edge will scale back a bit, Odom said, sharing the building of fellow attorneys William Stemburger and Scott Cummins at 45 Spring St., across from the Central Baptist Church.

"Mr. Edge is now doing a lot of lobbying in Atlanta, and Mr. Wood is retired, so we just had a lot of space that we didn't need, anymore," said Odom. "So we'll be on the first floor, and Stemberger and Cummins will be on the second floor." It's been a long ride. Wood was born in LaGrange on March 2, 1938, and admitted to the bar in 1960. He and his partners all attended the University of Georgia. Wood earned his BBA there in 1959 and LLB in 1961. Odom, who was born in Monroe on Oct. 29, 1946, graduated cum laude from UGA in 1968 and received his juris doctorate from the same school in 1971. Edge, born in Richmond, Va., on April 15, 1955, graduated magna cum laude from UGA in 1977 and earned his JD and graduated cum laude from UGA in 1980. After serving as a captain with the JAGC in the U.S. Army between 1961 and 1963, Wood served as an assistant United States attorney from 1963 to 1964, then clerked for Judge Lewis R. Morgan of the U.S. District Court from 1964 to 1966. After establishing the firm of Wood, Odom & Edge in Newnan, Wood spent the years from 1985 to 1987 growing the practice and serving as a member of the Board of Governors for the State Bar of Georgia. "We started up here on Jefferson Street in 1978," said Odom, and eventually spread to occupy both 13 and 15 Jefferson St. "It was a sporting goods store when we moved in," said Odom. "We combined the two buildings into one location, and we've enjoyed this great space, but now it's a lot more space than we need." Edge said it's not an easy thing to walk away from a building that's been his professional home for more than three decades. "I've been in the same building, in the same office, working with the same people for 31 years," Edge said. "There probably aren't too many other attorneys these days who can say that." Edge said he remembers "coming to Jefferson Street fresh out of law school" in 1980. "I've been here ever since, and it's been great," Edge said. "I've been very fortunate." He said he wanted to "come to a small town" so that he could have the experience of "handling a wide variety of cases and doing a lot of different things to help a lot of different people." That included representing a client facing the death penalty in 1983, which Edge said was probably one of his most difficult cases. "I was a fairly young lawyer and I was appointed to represent a fellow in what had been a pretty violent murder case that happened here in Newnan," Edge said. "We had a week-long trial, and that was a really difficult situation, especially for a relatively young lawyer. But the court asked me to do that, and I felt like I could do it, so I took it on. But it was tough." His civil cases have also been gratifying, he said. Edge served as co-counsel in a wrongful death case that was the first case tried at the new Coweta County Justice Center, he said. "That was a multi-million dollar verdict we got for our client," he said. "And we've had several other million-dollar-plus verdicts and settlements over the years. Some pretty big cases." But Edge said he's even enjoyed the small tasks, such as helping clients draw up their wills or walking them through their business transactions. "It's all been very rewarding and very gratifying," said Edge. Edge said he expects he will be seen less at the new offices, once everything has been relocated, but Wood, Odom & Edge will continue. "Frankly, my concentration will be on my lobbying in Atlanta," said Edge, who also used his law practice as a springboard into state politics, representing Newnan and Coweta County in the Georgia State Senate for a decade. He said change is sometimes a good thing, and often a necessary thing. "I've seen downtown Newnan change a lot over the years, since the time I first moved here," said Edge. "I can remember when the downtown area was in pretty rough shape, and how it came back. I always liked the old days, when I could walk home for lunch at my home on Wesley Street, and walk over to the courthouse for a court case. Things have changed a lot since then. But it's been a great ride. "And I'm proud of the fact that I've been associated with Gus and Parnell in the same office for 31 and a half years now," he said. "I was so lucky to partner up with such two great guys. I've never looked back. It's been one of the best decisions I've ever made. We've not only been law partners, but good friends. Our children all grew up together. It's really been almost a storybook kind of thing." And the story's not quite over yet. "Wood, Odom & Edge will still be in existence, and we'll see how that goes," said Edge. "It will certainly be different." "It's bittersweet," said Odom. "Never, during the entire time we've been together, have we ever had a disagreement. It's just been a wonderful relationship. Never been a cross word. I couldn't ask for two greater people to have been associated with. "But we aren't closing down Wood, Odom & Edge," he said. "Not by any stretch of the imagination. We'll still be around."

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