Popular politics trio leave Nelson Mullins to launch ‘Gold Dome’ firm
They are among the first to arrive and last to leave the Georgia State Capitol each day of the legislative session, and now the trio behind the popular “Gold Dome Report” have launched their own lobbying and legal services firm.
Helen Sloat, George Ray and Stan Jones left the Atlanta office of national law firm Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough on Tuesday after a combined 74 years. On Wednesday, they opened Gold Dome Partners, a Buckhead-based boutique offering policy-related help to a range of clients from nonprofits to Fortune 100 companies.
“We are grateful for our time at Nelson Mullins, but Gold Dome Partners will provide a platform for us to grow our team and offerings to enhance how we can help clients achieve their policy goals,” said Ray, who will lead the firm with Sloat. “Our clients won’t just get the same personalized service they already enjoy — they’ll get more.”
Jones and Sloat, who each spent more than 30 years at Nelson Mullins, are pioneers in their respective fields of health-related administrative law and lobbying. Together with Ray, they have helped pass laws that address the needs of Georgia’s most vulnerable residents as well as the state’s largest corporations.
“We’re not guns for hire,” Ray told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We have consciences and we want to feel good about the work we’re doing.”
They’re also not stepping away from the report that has become their signature.
Sloat started the “Gold Dome Report” in 1996 as a daily roundup of Georgia’s legislative session for Nelson Mullins clients. It was the first newsletter of its kind and has become required reading for stakeholders.
Sloat, a paralegal-turned-lobbyist, recalls having to stand over a fax machine late at night to send the report out. She said Ray’s “snark” in recent years helped elevate the publication, which drew around 800 daily readers to Nelson Mullins’ website.
The trio’s move from Nelson Mullins comes during significant upheaval in Atlanta’s legal community and coincides with Jones’ retirement from the firm. He will serve as senior adviser at Gold Dome Partners.
“We left on really good terms,” Sloat said Thursday as she held back tears. “We all enjoyed our time at Nelson Mullins and learned an incredible amount from our colleagues.”
It’s not just the legislative session from January through March that keeps this team busy. They work year-round helping solve clients’ problems using the expertise and relationships they’ve spent decades honing.
Jones started his career working for then-Gov. Jimmy Carter and has been at the Capitol every year since 1979. He said many clients wanted some kind of “tort reform” to limit lawsuits this past legislative session.
Gov. Brian Kemp made the issue a priority, aiming to shield businesses from massive jury verdicts.
Sloat, Jones and Ray also spent the past four or so years working pro bono for the Georgia Innocence Project on a new state law that gives wrongfully convicted exonerees a pathway to compensation for their time in custody.
“We have long prided ourselves on selectively working on good issues for great clients, and that won’t change,” said Jones. “It’s who we are.”
This coming session’s hot topics include the budget, data centers and gambling, the trio of self-described policy nerds say.
Ultimately, they view themselves as solution providers and consensus finders, Ray said.
“We try to be in the middle and find something that works both for our clients but also for the state and the legislators that might be skeptical,” he said. “Anything decided in a courtroom or in a boardroom can be fixed or undone by the legislature.”
The trio plans to expand their team with lobbyists and attorneys based on client needs, with no set number of staff in mind. For now, they have office space in Buckhead’s Sovereign building.
About the Author
Journalist Rosie Manins is a legal affairs reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
