Stan Blackburn joined the firm in 1976 and was admitted to partnership in 1982. Mr. Blackburn practices in the areas of corporate, corporate finance and international law. He concentrates his practice on the representation of clients in U.S. and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, issuances of debt and equity securities, and other business transactions. He also frequently advises clients on issues relating to non-transactional matters, including corporate governance, legal compliance and shareholder rights. His experience includes:

  • Represented publicly-held and private companies such as AT&T (and predecessors BellSouth and Cingular Wireless), Equifax, Fidelity National Information Services (Certegy), Georgia-Pacific, Interface, Landmark Communications (The Weather Channel), Lockheed-Martin, Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Zodiac S.A. in connection with a wide variety of domestic and international acquisition, disposition, consortium, strategic alliance and joint venture matters, with values ranging as high as €18 billion.
  • Advised clients such as ING, BellSouth, Equifax, Fidelity National and Interface on various corporate finance and investment matters, involving private and public offerings of debt and equity securities.
  • Advised three NYSE companies and one NASDAQ company in connection with recent corporate governance matters, including efforts to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other corporate governance reform initiatives.

Mr. Blackburn is recognized in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Law and is also listed in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business for Corporate/M&A. He is named in Georgia Trend's 2009, 2010 and 2011 "Legal Elite" and recognized as a Georgia "Super Lawyer" by SuperLawyers magazine in the areas of Securities & Corporate Finance and Business/Corporate in 2009 and in Mergers & Acquisitions in 2012 and the three years immediately preceding. Mr. Blackburn was named as a top "Dealmaker" of 2008 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and was recognized in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers for 2009.

In 2011, The Boys and Girls Clubs of America honored Mr. Blackburn with the National Service to Youth Award for his volunteer service as a board member and officer of Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, Inc.

Professional & Community Activities

American Bar Association, Member

American College of Investment Counsel, Fellow

Atlanta Bar Association, Member

Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, Inc., Director, Executive Committee and Corporate Secretary

Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Member

State Bar of Georgia, Former Chair of Business Law Section, Former Chair of Legal Opinions Committee and Corporate Code Revision Committee Member

Canadian-American Society of the Southeastern United States, Past Director

Cobb County International Business Council, Past Member

Fulton County Heart Fund Campaign, Legal Division, Former Chair

High Museum of Art, Young Men’s Round Table, Past President

Japan-America Society of Georgia, Former Director

Leadership Atlanta, Member (1983)

Municipal Courts of the City of Atlanta, Former Task Force Chairman

United Way of Atlanta, Past Group Chair

Education

  • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D. (1976)
    Order of the Coif, Notes Editor of Virginia Law Review
  • Auburn University, B.S., Economics (1973)
    high honors

Bar Admissions

  • Georgia (1976)

Who We Are

Suite 2800, 1100 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA, 30309-4528
USA
t +1 404.815.6400
f +1 404.541.3132

W. Stanley Blackburn

Experience Highlights

Represented Landmark Communications Inc. in sale of The Weather Channel
Represented Landmark Communications Inc. in the September 2008 sale of its weather-related businesses, including The Weather Channel and weather.com, more
Negotiation and execution of agreement between South Carolina and Georgia
Represented the State of South Carolina in connection with the November, 2007 execution of a historic bi-state agreement with the State of Georgia more
Strategic acquisition for Equifax, Inc.
Represented Equifax, Inc., one of the United States' largest credit reporting agencies, in its $1.4 billion acquisition of publicly held TALX more
Tax-free spin-off for Equifax Inc. of payment services business
Represented Equifax Inc., one of the United States' largest credit reporting agencies, in all aspects of benefit plans and executive compensation more