David A. Roberts

Atlanta non-compete attorney Dave Roberts is an experienced and accomplished Georgia non-compete agreement lawyer whose practice involves the representation of clients in the areas of Georgia noncompete law (non-compete, non-solicitation, non-recruitment and non-disclosure agreements), employment contracts, trade secrets, sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation, employment related torts and general business contract disputes. Representing a wide array of clients in these areas of the law, Mr. Roberts brings a wealth of legal, practical and "street-smart" tools to the table when solving legal problems for his clients.

While Mr. Roberts has nearly 18 years of private practice experience in many different areas of employment law, his Georgia non-compete law agreement practice is especially highly regarded and Mr. Roberts is known for his significant level of experience, expertise and courtroom abilities handling Georgia non-compete agreement and other unfair competition cases. Additionally, Mr. Roberts litigates, drafts and negotiates non-compete agreements in other jurisdictions as part of his broad employment law practice.

From 2005 - 2013, prior to becoming a named-partner at Hall, Arbery, Gilligan, Roberts ^ Shanlever, LLP, Mr. Roberts was the Managing Partner of The Roberts Firm, P.C. where he focused his practice in the areas of Georgia non-compete law, employment law and business litigation matters. Prior to founding his own firm, Mr. Roberts limited his practice to the representation of clients in Georgia non-compete law and employment discrimination matters as an attorney for Greenberg Traurig, one of the world's largest and most prestigious law firms. Mr. Roberts' Georgia non-compete agreement and employment discrimination practice at Greenberg Traurig included the representation of Fortune-500 companies nationally in matters relating to Georgia non-compete law and agreements and employment discrimination. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Mr. Roberts was an attorney at the Atlanta office of two of the top employment law firms in the nation - Fisher Phillips and Seyfarth Shaw. While at these firms, Mr. Roberts also practiced exclusively in the areas of Georgia non-compete law and employment discrimination. Mr. Roberts entered private practice in 1995 as an associate with the Tallahassee, Florida office of Broad and Cassel where he also practiced employment law. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Roberts gained significant jury-trial experience as an Assistant State Attorney in Tallahassee, Florida where he prosecuted drug-related offenses and other crimes.

Mr. Roberts is licensed and practices non-compete and employment law in all state courts in Georgia and Florida as well as the federal Northern, Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and Georgia. Mr. Roberts also represents clients nationally in non compete matters and other employment law and business litigation matters.

Mr. Roberts received his law degree in 1994 from the University of Texas School of Law which is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in the nation. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Roberts received his undergraduate degree from Florida State University which he attended on a football scholarship. During his playing career at FSU, Mr. Roberts was a four-year letterman, Academic All-American and was awarded an NCAA post-graduate scholarship to attend law school. Mr. Roberts' career football highlights included four consecutive major bowl victories, a 4-0 record versus the University of Florida, a single-game receiving record for FSU tight ends and catching the winning touchdown pass for FSU in 1989 in their win over Florida. A long-time elite-level baseball coach, in 2006, Mr. Roberts became the head baseball coach for the East Cobb Astros 14U team which is part of the top youth baseball program in the nation. Mr. Roberts 14U East Cobb Astros teams have won 16 major National Championships and most of Mr. Roberts players have gone on to play major college and/or professional baseball. Mr. Roberts sits on the Board of Directors of East Cobb Baseball where he also serves as General Counsel. Mr. Roberts also coaches youth football at the Northside Youth Organization ("NYO") at Chastain Park.

Born and raised in Griffin, Georgia, Mr. Roberts and his wife Courtney have a son Cade (11) and a daughter Libby (8). The Roberts' are members of Roswell Presbyterian Church.

Representative Experience

• Obtained injunctive relief and damages on behalf of leading U.S. online debit card processor against former employee that allegedly violated restrictive covenants and engaged in trade secret theft and other employment torts and statutory violations.
• Successfully prosecuted Georgia non-compete declaratory judgment action in Georgia on behalf of departing physician pharmaceutical sales persons against one of the largest companies in U.S. and defended parallel proceeding brought by same company against sales persons in Florida federal court.
• Negotiated favorable settlement on behalf of leading tax software company in claims brought by competitor involving Georgia non-compete, trade secret and other claims.
• Prosecuted scores of non-compete cases on behalf of individual employees seeking relief from overly-broad Georgia non-compete agreements.
• Litigated numerous non-compete cases in the context of declaratory judgment actions.
• Successfully defended large industrial client in claims of sexual harassment against President.
• Obtained injunctive relief on behalf of Atlanta fine dining establishment against former executive chef alleged to have violated non-compete agreement with restaurant.
• Successfully obtained remand of case to state court and obtained first known attorneys’ fees award in a covenant case of its kind in the Northern District of Georgia on behalf of former sales employees who filed declaratory judgment action found improperly removed by their former employer to federal court.

Recent Court Opinions

• Bell v. PSS World Medical, Inc., LLC, 2013 WL 5555480 (N.D. Ga. 2013)
• PSS World Medical, Inc. v. Stupka, 38 So.3d 774 (Fla. 1st DCA 2010)
• Rotech Healthcare, Inc. v. Chancy, et al., 392 F.Supp.2d 1372 (M.D. Ga. 2005)
• Cibula v. PSS World Medical, Inc., 2013 WL 5555445 (N.D. Ga. 2013)