W. Charles Lea, Attorney

Charles Lea's trial and appellate practice takes him to State and Federal courts throughout Georgia and the Southeast.  He has served as defense counsel in major drug, fraud, murder, sex offenses, armed robbery, mortgage fraud, and tax prosecutions, and he has been lead counsel in Federal jury trials.

Much of his work is in appeals and habeas cases where he has argued successfully for reversals in felony convictions and for grants of motions for new trials. He has dealt with cases where individual's rights have been diminished, overlooked or perverted, such as unlawful detention or absence of judicial hearings.  He has prepared and argued numerous cases in the Court of Appeals for the State of Georgia, the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

One of his most treasured moments as a lawyer came right after he passed the Georgia Bar and was sworn in by the late Superior Court Judge Rowland W. Barnes.  "Ed and Don arranged for Judge Barnes to swear me in because they had such respect for him as a jurist and a person," Charles recalls. Of all his diplomas and certificates, the one signed by Judge Barnes was the first he framed and hung in his law office.

A native Georgian, Charles is a graduate of the University of Georgia and of the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.