From offices in Savannah and St. Simons Island, HunterMaclean represents a wide variety of companies and individuals in the Southeast and throughout the United States in their legal and business matters in Georgia. HunterMaclean is a law firm that is committed to its clients and connected to the communities in which its clients do business.
HunterMaclean has extensive experience representing businesses and individuals in all areas of litigation as well as corporate, tax, real estate, transportation law, maritime law, information technology, and business planning matters. Firm clients include Fortune 500 companies, banks and hospitals, professional service organizations, industrial development authorities, and nonprofit corporations.
With a talented team of attorneys and professional staff operating from two offices, HunterMaclean offers one comprehensive source to handle a full range of client legal needs.
HunterMaclean’s flagship office in Savannah reflects the Firm’s deep roots in coastal Georgia, where the Firm was first founded in 1879. HunterMaclean’s office is conveniently located on Reynolds Square in the heart of Savannah’s National Landmark District.
HunterMaclean Savannah
200 East Saint Julian Street
PO Box 9848
Savannah, GA 31412-0048
TEL: 912.236.0261
FAX: 912.236.4936
For directions and maps, click here.
HunterMaclean expanded to Glynn County in 2002. Our office is located on St. Simons Island and reflects the Firm’s ongoing commitment to delivering comprehensive legal services to clients across the Georgia coast.
HunterMaclean St. Simons Island
455 Sea Island Road
St. Simons Island, GA 31522
TEL: 912.262.5996
FAX: 912.279.0586
For directions and maps, click here.
HunterMaclean marked its 140th anniversary in 2019, making it one of the oldest law firms in Georgia.
The Firm has engaged in the general practice of law since 1879, when Walter G. Charlton, a graduate of the law department of the University of Virginia, formed a partnership with N.C. Collier, who was later a United States Judge in New Mexico. J. Randolph Anderson joined the Firm in 1891, and the Firm was re-named Charlton, Mackall & Anderson. J. Randolph Anderson served as lieutenant governor of Georgia and helped form the railroad lines that became the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, now part of CSX. In later years, the Firm acted as system-wide counsel for the Seaboard Coast Line in employment discrimination and other matters, and it continues to serve CSX. The Firm became Anderson, Cann & Cann in 1903. One of its specialties was maritime law, a practice it established through acting as a regional representative of various London Protection and Indemnity Clubs. HunterMaclean continues to handle “P & I” matters and today represents an expanded number of maritime interests.
In 1946, Anderson, Cann, Dunn & Houlihan formed a seven-man firm when it merged with Connerat, Hunter & Cubbedge. In 1980, the Firm, then known as Hunter, Houlihan, Maclean, Exley, Dunn & Connerat, P.C., became Hunter, Maclean, Exley & Dunn, P.C.
HunterMaclean continues to grow. In 1995, the Firm merged with Miller, Simpson and Tatum in Savannah. In 1999, former partners of Chamlee, Dubus and Sipple and Ronald H. Cohen joined the Firm. In 2002, the Firm expanded to include an office in Glynn County, Georgia.
Colonel E. Ormonde Hunter, born 1893, was among the brightest stars of HunterMaclean. He graduated from Yale University and served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I from 1917 to 1918. He then earned his law degree from the University of Georgia. Ormonde practiced law in Savannah with what is now HunterMaclean from the time he graduated law school until his death in 1989. He argued (and won) a case in the U.S. Supreme Court. He was a member of the Georgia Legislature, a Chatham County Commissioner, President of the Savannah Bar, and Vice Chair of the Georgia Board of Regents.
In 1941, as Vice Regent, he stood resolutely against Governor Eugene Talmadge’s effort to fire the president of Georgia Teachers College (now Georgia Southern University) and a dean of the University of Georgia, whom Talmadge accused of teaching “racial equality” and being “communist.” The dispute became a cause célèbre, heard in special session in the Georgia Senate chambers. Ormonde stood staunchly against the governor’s highly racial position. While it took some time, the president of the Georgia Teachers College and dean at the University of Georgia resumed their posts.
Ormonde volunteered to enter World War II in 1942. He served as a full colonel primarily in East Asia/India in the secret OSS (Office of Strategic Strategies), the predecessor of what we now know as the CIA—a fact he would never confirm, but he received appreciation from the U.S. Army for his service after his death in 1989. He was a subject of part of a book, The Deceivers, about OSS deception against the enemy.
In 1940, Hunter Army Airfield was named after Ormonde’s brother, Major General Frank Hunter, who was an aviation war hero. Frank was an ace in World War I (with nine victories) and commander of the 8th Air Force Fighter Command in England during World War II. We know more about Frank’s military history than we do Ormonde’s, since the OSS factor kept Ormonde from sharing much of what he did.
Malcolm Roderick Maclean, Jr., was born in East Hampton, New York, on September 14, 1919, to Malcolm Maclean and Emily Marriott Maclean. Malcolm graduated from Yale University in 1941 with honors, served in the Navy during World War II, then earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1948.
Malcolm was appointed mayor of Savannah in 1960 to fill the unexpired term of W. Lee Mingledorff and was later elected by a bi-racial coalition in 1962. He served as mayor from 1960 to 1966. He saw Savannah through the racial turbulence of the 1960s and worked with local civil rights activists such as W.W. Law and Eugene Gadsden to help ease tensions.
Malcolm helped steer the city through the integration of lunch counters, restaurants, stores, theaters, public libraries, parks, and other city utilities. Unlike many other Southern cities, Savannah avoided sustained racial violence and largely integrated before the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Malcolm’s sympathy for the civil rights movement stemmed partly from a pragmatic desire to preserve the city’s progressive reputation. While the NAACP was organizing student sit-ins and boycotts of downtown businesses, Malcolm recruited civic and business leaders—a racially-integrated “Committee of 100”—to press for integration.
Outside of the civil rights movement, Malcolm contributed to the national debate on apportionment, advocating urban counties get more seats in state legislatures than less populous areas. He also spoke of the adoption of an $11.1 million plan to combat water pollution, an issue that was later publicized by Ralph Nader.
Malcolm said in a speech in 1961 that the issue of race “sputters like a fuse to a powder keg.” Decades later, in an oral history interview, Malcolm recalled he was “the most unpopular fellow you ever met” as he pursued Savannah’s peaceful integration because “I didn’t do it fast enough for one side and way too fast for the other.” After being soundly defeated for re-election in 1966 by the auto dealer J. Curtis Lewis, Jr., Malcolm never ran for office again and returned to his law practice at HunterMaclean.
Malcolm loved being a lawyer. He enjoyed the intellectual challenge, the competition of advocacy and negotiations, the history and tradition of the law. He was proud to serve his clients and to provide guidance and solutions for their problems. He was one of the last great, general practitioners—not only a litigator, but also adept at tax, trusts and estates, bonds, and real estate.
Malcolm was married to Frances Ravenel Maclean, and they had two children, John and Nancy. When Malcolm was not at work, he could often be found on the tennis court. Malcolm died of a stroke on January 24, 2001, in Savannah, Georgia, at the age of eighty-one years old.
Read more about Malcolm Maclean here.
William Mallette “Mallie” Exley, Jr., was born October 15, 1922, to William Mallette Exley and Ola Simmons Exley. He graduated from Savannah High School in 1941 and attended Georgia Tech before joining the U.S. Air Force during World War II. Mallie served as a navigator with the Eighth Air Force overseas and attained the rank of captain. He was cited for meritorious achievement while navigating a B-17 Flying Fortress in daylight bombing raids on Germany.
Mallie returned from the war to earn his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1949. He passed the Georgia bar exam in December of that year and was admitted to practice in the superior and federal courts in February 1950. He joined attorneys Frank S. Cheatham, Jr., and Luhr G. C. Beckmann, Jr., at their firm of Cheatham Beckmann, which was renamed Cheatham, Beckmann and Exley. Mallie subsequently partnered with former U.S. district attorney J. Saxton Daniel to form the law firm of Daniel and Exley.
Mallie joined the law firm of Connerat, Dunn, Hunter, Cubbedge and Houlihan in April 1956 and became a partner in 1957. In 1966, his name was added to the firm’s name, which became Connerat, Dunn, Hunter, Houlihan, Maclean and Exley. The other partners at the time were W. Spencer Connerat, E. Ormonde Hunter, James P. Houlihan, Malcolm Maclean, Spencer Connerat, Jr., and H. Mitchell Dunn, Jr. Associates were Stanley W. Feiler and Reginald C. Haupt, Jr.
Outside of his law practice, Mallie served as a major in the reserves and commanding officer of the Savannah JAG legal reserve unit. At one point, he was called upon to command a legal flight of the 9899th Air Reserve Squadron. Participation in the flight allowed reserve officers in the legal field to accrue points for promotions and retirement. Mallie was also active in civic matters; he participated in Savannah Jaycees and was elected chairman of the City Democratic Executive Committee, the body that made the rules and regulations for primary elections of the city of Savannah.
In 1963, Mallie was elected chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, succeeding Henry Woeltjen for a one-year term. Mallie was first appointed to the planning commission in 1959 to fill an unexpired term. He was reappointed in 1961 and served as head of the zoning board of appeals. As chairman, Mallie called for long-range planning to be conducted in conjunction with the regular monthly business of the commission. A downtown study was the major item listed for advanced planning for 1963.
Mallie later served as president of the Savannah Bar Association in 1983. He was a lifelong member of Wesley Monumental Methodist Church, where he was active in church affairs. He was also a member of the Kiwanis Club, Oglethorpe Club, and Savannah Golf Club, and an honorary life member of the Forest City Gun Club.
Mallie and his wife, Lucy, had two daughters, Kay Gunkel and Ann Sheils. On July 5, 2002, Mallie died at the age of seventy-nine after a long illness.
Henry Mitchell Dunn, Jr., was born on January 10, 1931, to Henry Mitchell Dunn and Eleanor Doyle Dunn. He graduated from the Lawrenceville School in Princeton, New Jersey, and the University of Virginia in 1953. After serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, he went on to earn a law degree from the University of Georgia and in 1959 a Masters in Taxation from New York University.
Following graduation from NYU, Mitchell joined the law firm of Connerat, Dunn & Hunter, now HunterMaclean, where his father, Henry Dunn, was a partner. Mitchell forged his own path as a leading partner at the Firm for close to sixty years. He was a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel, a member of the American Bar Foundation, and a founding Trustee and later President of the Southern Federal Tax Institute. He served as President of the Georgia Academy of Hospital Attorneys and was a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia.
Mitchell held a deep-seated commitment to his community and exercised his keen intellect on a myriad of projects both legal and philanthropic throughout his life. He donated his time to many organizations, including the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist, Georgia Infirmary, Hibernian Society of Savannah, Telfair Museum, Historic Savannah Foundation, Cashiers Historical Society, Savannah Benevolent Association, Southern Golf Association, Cosmos Club, Savannah Golf Club, Oglethorpe Club, and Chatham Club. Mitchell also served as General Counsel for St. Joseph’s Hospital for many years and was a driving force in the board-driven merger of St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospitals.
Throughout his life, Mitchell was a loyal friend, a generous mentor, a trusted advisor, and a respected colleague. Never being the loudest voice in the room, he sat back and listened. When everyone had expressed their views, he would quietly come forward with exactly the right course of action. His clarity of thinking and sound judgement shaped the lives of many.
Mitchell died on September 6, 2020, at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He was eighty-nine years old. After Mitchell’s passing, John Tatum, the managing partner of HunterMaclean from 1998 to 2010, described Mitchell as “one of the finest gentlemen I have ever met, and I don’t know a soul who doesn’t hold him in the highest esteem. Mitchell was strong but kind and gentle and had a passion for serving people. He will be greatly missed.”
Mitchell is survived by his wife of fifty-eight years, Elizabeth “Polly” Space Dunn; his sister, Audrey Dunn Platt; his brother, Joseph Laurence “Larry” Dunn; his two children, Elizabeth Dunn of Savannah, Georgia, and Eleanor Dunn of Guyton, Georgia; three grandchildren, Maggie and Henry Shiftan and Austin Dunn; and many nieces and nephews. He was devoted to and adored by his family.
HunterMaclean is a member of ALFA International (ALFAI), a premier global legal network with more than 140 independent law firm members worldwide. Similar in size and experience, ALFAI member firms meet high standards to be part of the network, and their attorneys are well respected by peers in both the legal and business community. ALFAI member attorneys establish broad, deep relationships with each other and are committed to providing cost-effective, high-quality legal services. As a result, membership in ALFAI enables HunterMaclean to use its local experience to deliver highly effective legal solutions while drawing upon the collective wisdom and experience of a comprehensive worldwide network of accomplished trial and business counsel. HunterMaclean’s clients will also benefit from a wide range of unsurpassed educational programming, including seminars, webinars, and legal compendia. More information on ALFAI is available at https://www.alfainternational.com/.
HunterMaclean is a proud Investor Partner with the World Trade Center Savannah, the international arm of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. World Trade Center Savannah is a proactive international business and trade development organization created to develop and optimize international networks and opportunities to drive economic growth in the region.
World Trade Center Savannah is a member of the World Trade Centers Association, a global association of hundreds of World Trade Centers in some 100 countries.
The combined networks of international trade and business development experts allow HunterMaclean to meet the specific needs of its clients by offering international market research, providing business matchmaking and connections to valuable public and private resources, and planning strategic trade missions, educational programs, and networking events. HunterMaclean is a proud Investor Partner with the World Trade Center Savannah, the international arm of the Savannah Economic Development Authority. World Trade Center Savannah is a proactive international business and trade development organization created to develop and optimize international networks and opportunities to drive economic growth in the region.
Historically, the Firm’s members have actively participated in professional, civic, and charitable organizations and endeavors and have maintained a long-standing tradition of service to the community.
Through the years, the Firm’s members have actively participated in professional, civic, and charitable organizations and endeavors and have maintained a long-standing tradition of service to the community. E. Ormonde Hunter and Spencer Connerat served in the Georgia General Assembly. Walter G. Charlton and George Cann were Superior Court judges, and Sam Cann was a district attorney. Malcolm R. Maclean was mayor of Savannah. John B. Miller served as chairman of the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education and as chairman of the Georgia Board of Bar Examiners. William Mallie Exley, Jr., was a former chairman of Savannah’s Metropolitan Planning Commission.
Mills Fleming has been appointed to the State of Georgia’s Judicial Nominating Commission and the Bona Fide Coin Operated Amusement Machine Operator Advisory Board and has served as president of The Lucas Theater of the Arts. Multiple HunterMaclean attorneys, including Wade Herring and Colin McRae, have served as president of the Savannah Bar Association. Ben Hartman has served as president of the Glynn County Bar Association, as well as the chairman of the Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce. Brad Harmon is currently serving as the Vice Chairman of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce.
E. Ormonde Hunter and Spencer Connerat served in the Georgia General Assembly. Walter G. Charlton and George Cann were Superior Court judges, and former partner Tim Walmsley is currently a Superior Court Judge in Chatham County. Malcolm R. Maclean was mayor of Savannah and Sam Cann was a district attorney. John B. Miller served as chairman of the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education and as chairman of the Georgia Board of Bar Examiners. Shawn A. Kachmar is currently on the Savannah-Chatham School Board.
Members of HunterMaclean’s team are actively involved in a multitude of community organizations and have served in leadership roles both in the private non-profit and public sectors. Giving back to the community in which we live and work is an integral part of our core values, and we encourage our attorneys to become actively involved in their communities.
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