Stites & Harbison, PLLC

K. Morgan Varner, III, practices transactional law and business dispute resolution of all types, representing both entrepreneurs and established companies. He has significant experience and expertise in construction law and is a member of the firm's Construction Service Group and an adjunct member of the Business and Complex Litigation Group and the Corporate Services Group. Mr. Varner also practices business succession and estate planning for the principals of his business clients.

Recent Assignments

• Successfully defended a corporate client in a dissenting shareholders' action by obtaining a new trial and ultimately having the original award of approximately $2,000,000 reduced to $500,000
• Negotiated a favorable IP Licensing Agreement between a small entrepreneurial client and 3-M Company
• Completed a complicated business succession and estate plan for high net worth individual clients which involved Buy-Sell Agreements and Trusts, along with more routine Wills and Powers of Attorney
• Successfully assisted several large industrial clients form a limited liability company to be used as a one-point-of-contact marketing and service provider entity

Recent Speaking Engagements and Publications

Published on a wide variety of topics, including:

• "Commercial Construction Projects," Chapter 3 of Construction Joint Ventures: Forms and Practice Guide, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992
• "Negotiating the Design/Build Contract," paper presented at the 1992 Construction SuperConference
• "Partition of Real Property," Chapter 33, Georgia Jurisprudence, Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company, 1995
• "Blocking Payment of Cashier's Checks and Related Remedies," Georgia Bar Journal, Vol. 3, No. 3, December 1997

Before Stites & Harbison

Following law school graduation in 1966, Morgan entered the U.S. Army Artillery pursuant to an R.O.T.C. commission. After serving as a battery commander and division artillery fire support coordinator, he was discharged in 1969 as a Captain. His first job as a lawyer was with Kilpatrick, Cody, Rogers, McClatchey & Regenstein (now Kilpatrick Stockton) in Atlanta. After three years, he left that firm and started a firm which became known as Varner & Stephens, and then Varner, Stephens, Humphries & White, which merged with Stites & Harbison in 1999.

More Than Stites & Harbison

Morgan's civic and community involvement has generally been focused on the arts and charities, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where he is a member of the Appassionato Society; the High Museum (Roundtable member); and the United Way (member of The Alexis de Tocqueville Society). He has also conducted Church School classes on various aspects of the development and beliefs of religious thought. Morgan sits on several Boards of Directors and is a member of the Duke Law School Board of Visitors.

Besides Stites & Harbison

Always active in sports, but now somewhat limited due to lack of cartilage in his knees, Morgan now enjoys hiking and bicycling more often than his old favorites of basketball, tennis and running. He remains an avid fan of all sports, particuarly Duke basketball.