Adams and Reese further expanded its economic development and cybersecurity practice groups as Roy E. Hadley, Jr., joined the firm’s Atlanta office as special counsel. Hadley’s practice, which is international in scope, includes counseling clients worldwide on complex corporate transactions, particularly those involving technology, information management, life sciences, e-commerce, economic development, telecommunications, outsourcing and intellectual property.
For more than 30 years, Hadley has been a trusted advisor to high growth businesses, governments as well as family and closely held businesses. He also provides guidance to a wide array of companies and their boards on issues related to data security and privacy, technology and business process outsourcing, telecommunications, health information technology, electronic medical records, software development and licensing, and entertainment and new media.
Adams and Reese has long featured extensive transactional and corporate advisory services in a wide variety of practice areas tailored to specific business goals. Hadley not only adds to the scope of the firm’s practice, but also increases the staff of one of the newest offices of Adams and Reese.
The Atlanta office opened in April 2017 and within the first three months of operation, grew to nine attorneys from the original founding partners: Ron C. Bingham, II, who leads the office and Matthew B. Norton. Hadley is the second attorney addition to the Atlanta office in 2018 as C. Glenn Dunaway joined the locale in February.
Hadley serves as independent counsel to boards and board committees on cyber matters, helping them understand and mitigate legal risks and exposures to protect themselves and the companies they serve. He also counsels clients on business matters affected by personal and family dynamics, including business succession planning, legacy planning, family governance and intergenerational issues. He focuses on helping closely-held businesses and the family members involved protect their interests and achieve their goals in times of transition or crisis.
Prior to joining Adams and Reese, Hadley was a partner at a full-service law firm where he served as co-head of the data security and privacy team while also chairing the diversity and inclusion initiative and leading the Africa practice desk. His business experience includes serving as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of a wireless communications company, as vice president, general counsel and chief privacy officer for a travel services and technology company, and as in-house counsel for a pair of telecommunication corporations. Hadley also served as special counsel to the president of the American Bar Association and as special assistant attorney general for the state of Georgia.
Hadley is AV® Preeminent Rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been honored by several publications for various honors. He was tabbed a Cyber Security Visionary by USBE & IT Magazine in 2012, listed among Georgia’s Most Powerful and Influential Lawyers in 2013, honored by Legal 500 in Mergers, Acquisitions and Buyouts in 2014, a “Minority Powerbroker” by Law360, as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Black Lawyers” by Savoy Magazine in 2015 and a “Game Changer” in information security by Hub Magazine in 2016. Most recently, he was presented the “Pinnacle Leadership Award” from the Fortitude Educational and Cultural Development Center in 2017.
A frequent speaker, lecturer and author, Hadley has writing has appeared on USAToday.com, FOXNews.com, Compliance Week, Healthcare Risk Management, Inside Counsel, Homeland Security Today, National Law Review, Sports Page Weekly, Law 360 and many other publications. He has also appeared on Georgia Public Broadcasting, TAG Radio, WXIA-TV (Tech Edge) and WUPA-TV (Focus Atlanta).
A double graduate of the University of Georgia, Hadley earned a B.B.A. from the Terry College of Business in 1985 and completed his J.D. from the School of Law in 1988.
He is a member of the Atlanta Bar Association and the Georgia Bar Association. Hadley is a former board member of the Atlanta Legal Diversity Consortium and is currently on the Technology Marketing Council of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce as well as an Advisory Committee Member of the United States Law Firm Group Diversity Committee. He served on the board of the Chastain Bark Conservancy, the Corporate Leadership Council of Fernbank and the Atlanta branch of the South African Business Chamber of Commerce, and is currently the board chair of the Technology Association of Georgia Information Security Society and is an advisory board member of the National Technology Security Coalition.
In addition to his legal work, Hadley is an active in the Technology Association of Georgia and the Boy Scouts of America – where he and his son are Eagle Scouts – and serves on committees for both Troop 232 and the Atlanta Area Council.