On Tuesday, Nov. 6, a true Southern gentleman left us for heaven. The founding partner of Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele, John H. Moore, lost his four-year battle with prostate cancer on Tuesday. John was a giant in the legal profession and was consistently voted by his peers as one of the Best Lawyers in America in the specialties of land use, zoning and litigation. John was also a true visionary in the legal profession, having decided to start his own firm in the mid-1980s by recruiting lawyers from Atlanta to create a full-service law firm in Marietta, with lawyers specializing in many different areas of law. Under John’s leadership, the firm grew from just a few lawyers to over 90 lawyers with seven satellite offices in five states.
When John first approached me about leaving what is now Hall Booth Smith P.C., to join his startup practice in Marietta, I respectfully declined the invitation. But, being a good lawyer who did not take no for an answer, John called my father (a former Cobb County commissioner whom John knew) and developed a strategy to have my father persuade me to accept John’s offer. John’s vision and perseverance changed my career and life, and I will be forever grateful to him for that.
