"My essence of practice, in more than 20 plus years, is assisting clients in refining what they want to accomplish, then showing how it can be done legally and tax advantageously," John Ratterree says. "As social utility, I believe my clients spend their money better than the government can." Hands-on commitment to client service and a superlative record make this AV-rated Sandy Springs sole practitioner JEZEBEL magazine's chosen Attorney of Distinction for estate planning and probate.
A bar member of the US Supreme Court, U.S. 9th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeals, Tax Court as well as those of Georgia, California and U.S. Districts, Ratterree is also an established member of the Atlanta Estate Planning Council, Estate Planning Council of North Georgia, Georgia Planned Giving Council, North Georgia Tax Council, and the Atlanta and Sandy Springs Bar Associations. In addition to estate planning, he handles various business formation matters.
Ratterree's commitment to charitable planning isn't merely professional. Between college at the University of Virginia (Bachelor of Arts with distinction and departmental honors; Echols Scholar, Jefferson Literary & Debating Society) and law school at Emory (Juris Doctorate, 1980; LL.M(Tax), 1988; P-H Tax Award as most outstanding taxation student), he stayed at Leixlip Castle, volunteering with Desmond Guinness's Irish Georgian Society. Recently, he held alumni leadership positions with his college and preparatory schools (Cate in California and Woodberry Forest in Virginia), and works on the Georgia High School Mock Trial (vice chair, Problem). He also remains involved in a variety of community service projects.
Interested in gardening, reading ("A Scottish proverb warns that a lawyer who is not also a scholar is merely a technician," he tells the Burns Club of Atlanta), travel, photography, cooking, snow skiing, squash and "weekend athlete" sports, Ratterree lives in Vinings.
