Sarah Brewerton-Palmer

Business Litigation

Sarah litigates complex commercial matters on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. Her experience includes breach-of-contract litigation, post-employment disputes, fiduciary-duty claims, business breakups, and commercial lease disputes in federal court, state court, and arbitral forums.

First Amendment & Media Law

Sarah frequently handles cases involving First Amendment issues and governmental transparency. She represents news organizations and non-profits in efforts to obtain public records from governmental bodies and challenges government action that violates the First Amendment. Sarah also defends clients against defamation claims and advocates for First Amendment rights through amicus curiae briefs.

Constitutional Claims

Sarah has extensive experience with constitutional challenges, including due process violations, privacy rights, and equal protection challenges.

Appellate Practice

Sarah has successfully represented clients before the United States Supreme Court, the Georgia Supreme Court, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Georgia Court of Appeals. Her appellate work spans major contract disputes, complex federal regulatory questions, open records laws, and federal criminal statutes.

Business Litigation

• Secured dismissal of former CEO from lawsuit alleging securities violations in connection with equity investment worth more than $50 million.
• Obtained favorable settlement on behalf of pharmaceuticals manufacturer in case alleging breach of contract, unfair competition, and tortious interference against a competitor.
• Defeated an attempt by two insurers to force their insured to repay millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees that had been paid out to defend the underlying coverage case.
• Successfully resolved a multi-million-dollar appraisal action against one of the largest cannabis companies in the U.S. on behalf of one of its founders.
• Won summary judgment on behalf of an LLC member, awarding him nearly $100,000 in improperly withheld distributions and affirming that he had no obligation to pay millions of dollars in contributions being sought by the company.

First Amendment, Open Records, & Constitutional Claims

• Obtained a preliminary injunction on behalf of a nonprofit canvassing organization to prevent enforcement of an improper zoning regulation that violated its First Amendment rights.
• Secured a settlement on behalf of non-profit American Oversight against the Secretary of State of Georgia, in which the Secretary agreed to reform its open records procedures and to pay a portion of American Oversight’s attorneys’ fees.
• Won complete dismissal and award of attorneys’ fees in a defamation action brought against a lawyer for statements made while he was representing a client.
• Assisted the City of Atlanta’s Transparency Officer in drafting the City’s Open Records Policy on behalf of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV.
• Successfully resolved a § 1983 lawsuit concerning a Georgia prison’s failure to provide client with meals adhering to his religious beliefs.
• Secured an agreement from the City of Luthersville, Georgia, on behalf of the Georgia House Minority Leader that it would not enforce a sign ordinance that improperly restricted the placement of political signs and that it would redraft the ordinance to comply with the First Amendment.

Appellate Work

• Won full affirmance from Georgia Supreme Court of a preliminary injunction that stopped executions in the state of Georgia based on a contract.
• Secured grant of a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court and won vacatur of an Eleventh Circuit decision that had rejected a habeas corpus challenge to the legal basis for a client’s criminal conviction under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

• On the Rise in Georgia Honoree - Southeastern Legal Awards, Daily Report and Law.com (2025)
• Super Lawyer, Business Litigation, Super Lawyers Magazine (2024)
• Rising Star in Business Litigation, Super Lawyers Magazine (2019-2023)

• President, Georgia First Amendment Foundation
• Board of Directors, Georgia Resource Center
• Planning Committee, Annual Georgia Bar Media & Judiciary Conference
• Barrister, Lamar Inn of Court

• Barriers to Reproductive Health, presented at The Center for Access to Justice’s State of the South Conference
• Panelist, Gold Dome 2024 Legislative Preview, Georgia First Amendment Foundation Legislative Breakfast
• Speaker, Temporary Restraining Orders and Preliminary Injunctions, presented at Financial Poise Newbie Litigator School
• Panelist, Gold Dome Recap 2023, Georgia First Amendment Foundation and The Atlanta Press Club Webinar
• Panelist, Much Ado About Doxxing: Privacy, FOI, and Legislative Responses, presented at the National Freedom of Information Coalition’s National FOI Summit
• Panelist, Gold Dome Recap 2022, Georgia First Amendment Foundation and The Atlanta Press Club Webinar
• Speaker, The Ins and Outs of Ethics in Dealing with the Media While Handling Big Cases, presented at the State Bar of Georgia’s seminar on Handling Big Cases
• Restricting the Restrictive Covenant, American Bar Association
• Will Knowing Less About Cyberattacks Really Make Georgians Safer? The Georgia First Amendment Foundation
• Law Enforcement and the First Amendment, presented as part of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation’s 2020 Weltner Event
• Supreme Court Invalidates TCPA Amendments, Expands Skepticism of Content-Based Commercial Regulations, Media Law Resource Center
• Speaker, Post-Reed Sign Regulation for Municipalities, presented at the Georgia Municipal Association’s City Attorneys’ Virtual CLE
• What Georgia’s Shelter-in-Place Order Means for the Media, Georgia First Amendment Foundation
• Transparency in the Time of Coronavirus: Tips for Virtual Government Meetings, Georgia First Amendment Foundation
• Speaker, How to Keep Public Meetings Open in an Emergency, presented at the Georgia First Amendment Foundation’s Transparency Town Hall
• Six Tips for Drafting Binding Term Sheets at Mediation, American Bar Association
• Eleventh Circuit Reinstates Haitian Businessman’s Defamation Claims, Media Law Resource Center Digital Newsletter
• Speaker, The Accountant-Client Privilege, presented at the Georgia Society of CPAs annual Fraud & Forensic Accounting Seminar
• Speaker, Nuts and Bolts of Civil Appellate Practice: Drafting the Briefs, presented at the State Bar of Georgia’s annual Appellate Practice Section CLE
• Offers of Judgment in Civil Rights Cases, presented at the ICLE Seminar on Litigation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983

Press

• Georgia Public Defender Council hit with open records suit, by Kelcey Caulder, Law360
• Proposed bill to shield government worker information from public records narrowed to law enforcement, by Jill Nolin, The Georgia Recorder
• Could the Braves rebrand and drop the chop? Experts say the route is long, but navigable, by Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports
• Former city official convicted of violating Georgia’s open records law, WSB-TV
• Forest Park considers ethics attorney, The Clayton Crescent
• 50 trees cut down in Roswell for a detention pond spark debate, by Adrianne Murchison, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Experts say bills going through legislature will make it easier for government to hide details of cyberattacks, WSB-TV
• How two cybersecurity bills in Georgia could mean the public knows less about cyberattacks, by Robbie Sequeira, The Gainesville Times

• Jenner & Block