Ms. Ward’s practice concentrates on white-collar defense and civil litigation including healthcare, business, and environmental litigation, as well as administrative and regulatory matters.
Ms. Ward has represented multiple potential defendants in cybersecurity investigations, tax fraud investigations, public corruption, and more, each resulting in no indictments being filed or substantially reduced penalties being negotiated. She obtained a defense verdict in a multi-day arbitration for healthcare practice that had been charged with violating various contractual provisions regarding medical billing, physician recruitment, and restrictive covenants. Ms. Ward also received a defense verdict for parents who had been placed on the child abuse registry after seeking medical treatment for their accidentally injured child. Ms. Ward has defended doctors and nurses accused of being deliberately indifferent to inmates’ healthcare needs and helped clear the license of a certified nursing assistant charged with neglect of a patient by convincing judge no neglect had occurred. Ms. Ward often defends medical professionals before state medical, dental, nursing, and health insurance boards to prevent disciplinary actions from being imposed. She also has represented multiple businesses and non-profits cited for business license violations, each case resulting in business licenses being reinstated, brought into compliance with city regulations, and all ancillary employee charges being dropped.
Ms. Ward is active in multiple bar associations including the American Bar Association, State Bar of Georgia, and Atlanta Bar Association. She was selected as a member of the State Bar of Georgia Leadership Academy Class of 2019 and serves as the Young Lawyers Division Litigation Committee Co-Chair in 2019-2020. Ms. Ward has also served as a Board member of the Atlanta Bar Association Women in the Profession Section since 2013 and is currently Chair of the Section. Ms. Ward further has further served on the Atlanta Bar Criminal Law Section Board since 2019.
Ms. Ward was also recently recognized as the inaugural recipient of the Catherine M. O’Neil Mentoring Award given by the Women’s White Collar Defense Association in recognition of her as an outstanding junior member of the WWCDA.
Ms. Ward received her undergraduate degree from the University of Miami where she finished magna cum laude and was a Rhodes Scholarship National Semi-Finalist. She went on to receive her J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law where she was active in Moot Court and the Women Law Students Association, and won several awards including Best Oralist at the Emory Civil Rights and Liberties Competition, Outstanding Graduate from the National Organization for Women, and Outstanding Service and Leadership Award from the UGA Moot Court Society.