In Memoriam: W. Fred Orr II, 1941-2010

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of one of our own, W. Fred Orr II, who passed on May 4. Fred was a native child, born in Atlanta on July 5, 1941, and attended the Atlanta public schools. He was an honor graduate of Brown High School, and active in school athletics and activities. Fred attended Emory University, majoring in Political Science, was admitted to the Emory University School of Law after three years of college, and after only one year of law school, he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Law. In 1965 he was awarded a Bachelor of Laws degree from Emory Law School. Mr. Orr was a member of the Emory Law Review, then known as the Journal of Public Law, and the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. He was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in December 1964, while still in law school.

Fred practiced law continuously in Decatur, Georgia, since January 1965. In 1976 he and his law partner, Smokey Edwards, formed the civil trial firm of Orr and Edwards, Attorneys at Law, P.C. The firm has been located at the One West Court Square Building in the heart of Decatur for more than 35 years. For many years Fred specialized in complex civil litigation and jury trials. In 46 years as a trial lawyer, he served as lead trial counsel in hundreds of contested cases, in both federal and state courts, often representing high-profile clients, or working high profile cases such as his involvement in the Presidential Parkway case in the mid-1980s, and the defense of Mayor Bill Campbell in 2005. In September 2009 Fred was lead counsel in a case in DeKalb State Court where the jury awarded a $9.25 million verdict in favor of his client.

From 1987 until 1997, Fred taught as an adjunct professor of law at Emory Law School, and he was a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars throughout his career. He was a past editor of Calendar Call, the official publication of the General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar of Georgia. He was a fellow of the Georgia Bar Foundation, a master in the Lamar Inn of the American Inns of Court, and a fellow of the International Society of Barristers, an exclusive by-invitation-only legal organization having a worldwide membership limited to 600 active trial lawyers.

Fred was a member of the DeKalb Bar Association and served as chair of its Courts Committee and as chair of its Litigation Section. He was also a member of the Atlanta Bar Association, and past chair of the litigation section, the Gate City Bar Association, a past co-chair of the Bench and Bar Committee of the State Bar of Georgia, past president of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, an active member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Southern Trial Lawyers Association (STLA), the Georgia Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, and the Old Warhorse Lawyers Club. Fred was designated as one of Georgia’s “Super Lawyers” in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Fred Orr Memorial Scholarship Fund, set up in memory of Fred Orr by the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, c/o First Citizens Bank, Attention Tracey Smith, 3270 Florence Rd., Powder Springs, GA 30127.