Draft:L. Chris Stewart

L. Chris Stewart (born December 9, 1978) is an African-American civil rights attorney, and a Georgia injury trial lawyer. His practice is focused on, auto/trucking collisions, wrongful death, and premises liability with a specialty in sexual assault. He is also the managing partner of Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys, a personal injury litigation law firm.

Early life and education
Stewart was born and raised in Southwest Atlanta, Georgia. As a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated, Chris earned a bachelor's degree in Psychology with honors from Xavier University. He also did a Master's of Science in Public Health from Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2001 and worked at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2005, he earned a Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law.

Career
Stewart worked for the law firm of Morgan & Morgan where at the age of 29 he made partner. While at Morgan & Morgan, he represented over 2500 clients and has the Atlanta office's largest jury verdict. Stewart has litigated cases in over twenty-five counties in Georgia and has taken over 1500 depositions. He was also selected to be one of the 16 lawyers to participate in the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association's Leadership Education and Advanced Direction (LEAD) program. At the age of 42, he was a managing partner at Stewart, Seay & Felton Trial Attorneys, until the firm dissolved in 2018. He moved to a new office on Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard and worked on his own. In January 2020, he was joined by his partner Justin Miller; and in August 2020, they were joined by their third partner Madeleine Simmons and changed the firm name to 'Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys', with a motto of "Family. Faith. Justice."

Prominent cases
In 2014, Stewart took Gregory Towns' case, who was repeatedly tasered while handcuffed by two East Point officers during his arrest. Both officers were convicted for murder. He collected East Point's $1 million insurance policy limit for his client. He has also been the lead attorney for Walter Scott, a South Carolina man shot in the back and killed by a North Charleston police officer as he ran; Alton Sterling, the Baton Rouge man whose shooting death by police was captured on video; and Chase Sherman, who died after being tased multiple times by Coweta County Deputies. That case would lead to Walter Scott.

In 2015, he made North Charleston City Council approve an agreement to pay the Scott family $6.5 million.

In 2018, he fought for then 14-years-old victim, Hope Cheston. Because of his efforts, jurors in Clayton County, Ga., awarded Cheston $1 billion in compensatory damages in a civil lawsuit against Crime Prevention Agency Inc., the security company that employed her rapist. He has also been one of the lawyers for the George Floyd case and was able to approve a $27 million settlement from the Minneapolis City Council, which he said "imparts a measure of justice".

In 2020, he also served the family of Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed in a hate crime earlier that year.

Stewart gained national recognition after taking the Rayshard Brooks family case, in 2020.

In 2021, he was also the lead attorney for Albany resident Michael King, against the Dollar General Corporation and two employees for gross negligence and punitive damages .Same year, he was also hired by Catherine Khan's family.

Television
In 2020, Stewart agreed to work with eOne (Entertainment One) to develop a docuseries titled "Burden of Justice". The series will chronicle his involvement in the George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks cases, and other high-profile police brutality cases.