Edward D. Buckley
Managing Partner
Edward D. Buckley is one of the founding partners of Buckley Bala Wilson Mew LLP. Ed was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, by parents who raised him to make a difference for the better. He is a graduate of the College of Charleston and Emory University School of Law, where he also served as a legal writing instructor.
Ed understands the hardships that working people face and has built his law practice championing their cause, focusing his practice on civil rights and employment discrimination cases. He has represented people from virtually every walk of life, including hotel laundry workers, truckers, secretaries, food industry workers, technicians, salespeople, teachers, professors, stockbrokers, CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, longshoremen, doctors and lawyers. He has represented numerous executives in everything from contract negotiations to contract disputes.
Indeed, Ed has a unique perspective on the plight of the working man and woman, as he worked his way through college and law school as a carpenter, building houses and hospitals. He approaches each client engagement with empathy, and works hard to find solutions to their problems, often where other lawyers are not able to do so.
Achievements & Accolades
Ed has received recognition from numerous organizations for his legal excellence. He has been ranked as one of “America’s leading business lawyers” by Chambers and Partners, as a “Super Lawyer” by Atlanta Magazine and as a member of Georgia’s “Legal Elite” by Georgia Trend Magazine. Ed is listed in Martindale-Hubbell’s Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers with an “AV” rating—its highest rating. He has been recognized by Super Lawyers since 2004, ranking in the Top 100 lawyers in Georgia from 2005 to 2023.
Ed has broad employment and civil rights experience in every area of the law. Although he is an outstanding trial lawyer, he also has extensive experience in mediation, arbitration, settlement negotiations and appellate law. He has won numerous million dollar plus verdicts for employees and individuals, in Constitutional challenges, in race discrimination, sex discrimination, sexual harassment and tort cases. He has trained numerous lawyers who have in turn become vigorous advocates in the courtroom and the boardroom. He has led the charge in numerous cases which have made law in Georgia and in other jurisdictions, repeatedly changing and improving the law through appellate advocacy.
He has also settled numerous cases on behalf of employees in age, race, sex, sexual harassment and assault, age, national origin and disability discrimination claims for six, seven and eight-figure sums and has obtained favorable court orders for employees who have been treated unfairly in the workplace. He has successfully served as an advocate for employees in mediations and arbitrations. He has successfully handled numerous appeals in the Georgia Court of Appeals, Georgia Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Super Lawyers
AV Rated
Legal Elite
Best Law Firms
Best Law Firms
Background & Experience
Ed is past president of the Georgia affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Association and is a former chair of the Atlanta Bar Association Labor and Employment Section. A popular speaker, Ed has chaired seminars on “The Trial of a Race Discrimination Case” and “The Trial of a Sexual Harassment Case.” He has been selected to participate in mock trials for the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Section and to chair and present a high-tech mock trial for the Atlanta Bar Labor and Employment Section. He has spoken at national seminars for consumer groups and employee rights groups.
More recently, he was one of the three featured speakers at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and Atlanta Chapter of the Federal Bar Association’s seminar on “Technology in the Northern District Courtroom.”
Ed writes frequently and has authored numerous articles, papers and a book chapter on employment law, civil rights law and executive contracts. He is admitted to practice in all state courts, appellate courts, federal district courts in the State of Georgia and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals as well as the United States Supreme Court.
Work Outside of the Legal Practice
Outside the courtroom, Ed continues to fight and protect people’s human rights. He is the founder of nonprofit water charity Water Life Hope, which helps people gain access to clean drinking water. Through fundraising and his own money, Ed and the Water Life Hope team have helped build more than 300 projects across Haiti, providing clean drinking water to more than half a million people.
Ed is also the author of two books, All The Way Home and Pope Hope. He is a voracious reader and enjoys well written fiction and poetry, particularly by American and British authors.
Ed lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife, Patty and continues to enjoy the company of his three grown children and grandchildren, all of whom live in the area. Ed enjoys outdoor activities such as fishing, cycling and kayaking. He starts each day with vigorous cardio-aerobics.