Atlanta law firm folds after series of attorney exits

A year after losing one of its founding partners in a series of attorney exits, Atlanta law firm Taylor Duma is closing its doors.

The firm, founded in April 2005 as Taylor English Duma by attorneys Marc Taylor, Joe English and Scott Duma, grew to include more than 150 lawyers nationwide.

But it lost considerable talent in the last couple of years, including English, to larger national and international law firms entering the Atlanta legal market.

“We didn’t cross the finish line where we wanted, but I’ll always be proud of what we accomplished and grateful for the opportunity to work with great people,” Taylor, the firm’s chair and CEO, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s been the honor of a lifetime.”

Tuesday is the full-service firm’s last day in business. Wednesday is the 21st anniversary of its opening.

Taylor said the decision to close was made two weeks ago, along with plans for some of the firm’s lawyers to join English and other former colleagues at the new Atlanta office of Offit Kurman.

He said different Taylor Duma lawyers are moving to separate firms, including Ardis Law, set up in June 2025 by five senior partners who struck out on their own.

English departed Taylor Duma in April 2025 to lead Offit Kurman’s Atlanta office, where a handful of his former colleagues have since joined him as principals.

He told the AJC he’s looking forward to being reunited with other Taylor Duma lawyers, though he’s sad the firm is closing.

“It’s bittersweet,” English said Monday. “I’m very proud of what we built over there. We started a firm to try to be a disrupter in the legal market 20 years ago. We built it and ran it for 20 years, and I think that that is a good testament to all the great people over there and all the terrific clients who trusted us to do their work.”

Taylor Duma rejected traditional compensation structures adopted by most large law firms as part of an effort to be accessible to a wide range of clients, particularly middle-market businesses.

Taylor said he’s focused on taking care of the firm’s lawyers and clients through the closure, which ultimately will “do the most good for the most people.”

He said beyond that, he is personally considering several career opportunities.

“I am not going to go to Offit Kurman,” Taylor said Monday. “I’ve got some pretty good ideas and I think, after tomorrow, I will probably make some decisions pretty quickly.”

The firm had about 65 lawyers, mostly in Atlanta, when the decision was made to close.

Taylor attributed the firm’s reduction in size to aggressive recruiting by other law firms in the past 18 months.

Longstanding Taylor Duma lawyers started Atlanta offices of Clark Hill and Buchalter in the summer of 2024, while others moved to the local office of Burr & Forman.