Jody D. Peterman, LLC offers personal-injury representation and defense for clients facing serious felony charges in Georgia, serving clients statewide from its Valdosta office. Atlanta’s Office of Transparency distinguishes requests sent to the responsible city department from assistance identifying that department.
A practical starting point
- Identify whether you are seeking personal-injury representation or criminal-defense representation.
- For an injury matter, be ready to explain generally how the injury occurred and why you believe another party’s negligence was involved.
- For a criminal-defense matter, be ready to describe the serious felony charge you are facing.
- For a city-records inquiry, identify the department likely to have custody of the specific records.
- If you do not know which department has the records, ask the Office of Transparency for help identifying the appropriate custodian.
- Keep the Office of Transparency’s role distinct from the department that holds the records.
Personal-injury representation
The firm describes its personal-injury practice as representing people seriously injured because of another party’s negligence. If you are considering this kind of representation, focus your first explanation on the injury, how it happened, and the other party’s role as you understand it.
The firm describes the first conversation as a way to understand the general nature of a matter and identify appropriate next steps. Prepare the injury account and the questions you want to discuss beside the documents you already have.
Official resources: Personal injury and criminal defense services
Criminal-defense representation
The firm offers criminal-defense representation for clients facing serious felony charges in Georgia. This practice has a different purpose from personal-injury representation: it concerns a person facing a criminal charge, rather than an injury attributed to another party’s negligence.
For a criminal-defense discussion, keep the paperwork about the charge together. Preserve the agency or court names printed on those documents, with the dates and the questions you want to raise about the matter.
Official resources: Personal injury and criminal defense services
Find the right department for city records
Atlanta’s Office of Transparency directs records requests to the department with custody of the specific records and links an official designated-custodian directory. The directory is a way to identify the responsible department; the Office of Transparency is not itself the custodian of all city records.
If you are uncertain which department is appropriate, the Office of Transparency offers assistance identifying the custodian through ChiefTransparencyOfficer@AtlantaGA.gov or 404-546-4100. This help with identifying a records custodian is distinct from seeking legal assistance about an injury or criminal charge.
Official resources: Atlanta Office of Transparency; Personal injury and criminal defense services
Keep the two kinds of help separate
A city-records inquiry and a request for legal representation serve different purposes. For records, identify the department that has custody of the particular records, using the directory or the Office of Transparency’s custodian-identification assistance if needed.
For the firm conversation, keep the injury-related or charge-related papers in an identifiable group. List the questions you want to ask about the matter, alongside the corresponding documents and the offices named on them.
Official resources: Atlanta Office of Transparency; Personal injury and criminal defense services
Questions about Atlanta
Who can help identify the department for a city-records request?
The Office of Transparency directs requests to the department with custody of the specific records and links a designated-custodian directory. If you are unsure which department is appropriate, it offers assistance at ChiefTransparencyOfficer@AtlantaGA.gov or 404-546-4100.
Should I send every Atlanta city-records request to the Chief Transparency Officer?
The Office of Transparency says the Chief Transparency Officer is not custodian of all city records. The office can help identify the appropriate custodian, while the department with custody of the specific records is the destination for the request.
General information about legal services and local resources. A lawyer must review the facts and applicable law for your matter. Contacting the firm does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.