Practice Areas
Hipes & Belle Isle’s law practice encompasses the following areas:
Insurance Law
A significant focus of the Hipes & Belle Isle practice is the representation of policyholders and insurance carriers in first-party insurance coverage and bad-faith matters. We provide clients with coverage interpretation and serve as litigation counsel on matters including, but not limited to, arson, fraud in the application and submission of the claim, bad faith refusal to pay, unfair claims practices, cancellation procedures, reservation of rights, waiver and estoppel, right to counsel and the insurer’s duty to defend. In addition to first-party insurance issues, we have extensive experience in defending liability claims, including the representation of insured’s through insurance carriers and self-insured’s.
Employment Law
Hipes & Belle Isle has the experience and resources to handle your employment and labor-law matters. Our employment and labor-law practice has provided counsel to individuals and businesses in areas such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII and the Family Medical Leave Act. Our employment practice also includes: employee manual and personnel policy development; contract and tort matters; discrimination matters based on gender, age, disability, national origin, race or religion; hiring and firing; job interview practices; Older Workers Benefits Protection Act issues; privacy and employee monitoring issues; wage and hour disputes, and wrongful termination. Our attorneys have also handled litigation in state, federal and appellate courts and have represented employees and defended employers before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other agencies.
Real-Estate Law
Hipes & Belle Isle is on the approved-attorney list of more than 30 commercial lenders and brokers. We are eligible to close commercial real estate and other secured transactions for most of the national, regional and community banks in the Metropolitan-Atlanta area.
We close conventional and Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 loans and have more than a decade of experience in other areas of property law, including environmental law.
We work with developers, owners, property managers, tenants, financial institutions and investors in all types of transactions. Commercial real estate law includes acquisitions, construction-contract issues and litigation, contract negotiations, debt restructurings, foreclosures, landlord-tenant disputes, lease negotiations and contracts.
Construction Law
We represents owners, contractors and suppliers in all aspects of the construction process, including contract negotiation and formation, contract performance, mechanics’ and material-men’s liens, payment and performance bonds for public projects, and claims and dispute resolution.
Contract Law
We draft, negotiate and review commercial business contracts of every kind, including sales, marketing, consulting and business-development agreements, leases, franchise agreements and buy/sell agreements.