David E. Jones, a shareholder in our Atlanta office, passed away on June 20 after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. In 1992, I personally hired David to create a workplace safety and health group for our firm. At the time, he was serving as legal counsel and special adviser to the chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, which was a presidential appointment. David was a nationally known authority in workplace safety law, and we were lucky he decided to join our firm.

Under David’s leadership as head of our workplace safety and health practice group, the firm has developed one of the largest safety and health practices in the country. As the practice grew, David encouraged collaboration between offices and regularly traveled across the country to assist with accident investigations, provide counsel, and jump in when a fellow attorney was in a pinch. David was a tenacious lawyer, patient mentor and tremendous inspiration to many in our firm and the larger legal community. He was the first African-American lawyer to join our firm, and he was indispensable to creating the extensive diversity in the firm today.