Balch & Bingham partner Ben Brewton has become the new chair of the American College of Trial Lawyer’s Georgia chapter. Brewton succeeds King & Spalding partner Sally Yates as the head of the group’s Georgia State Committee, as the chapter is known.

Brewton joined Balch & Bingham in May to open an Augusta office for the firm, arriving from Augusta civil litigation defense boutique Tucker Long. That was the ninth location for the Birmingham-based firm, which has more than 200 attorneys firmwide, including a 28-lawyer Atlanta office, according to its website.