Kamal Ghali is described by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a “brilliant attorney” with a “commanding presence in the courtroom,” “a great legal strategist who anticipates all sides of a case,” “a master of his craft,” and “an excellent trial lawyer” who is “sharp and quick on his feet.” Recognized for his superb trial skills and his “fantastic ability to explain complex legal and technology-related topics,” Mr. Ghali is ranked in Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, and Super Lawyers (Georgia) for business litigation, intellectual property litigation, white-collar defense, and cybersecurity litigation.
A former federal prosecutor, and a go-to lawyer for companies and executives facing high-stakes disputes and investigations, Mr. Ghali has extensive experience litigating fraud, RICO, contract, intellectual property, and fiduciary-duty claims. He has first-chaired numerous trials, won arbitrations across the U.S., secured emergency injunctions, and successfully litigated bet-the-company disputes including:
- A multibillion-dollar fight over ownership of two nuclear power plant units (Fulton County Superior Court, Georgia);
- A three-week trademark infringement and dilution bench trial between two world famous brands (Northern District of Georgia);
- A two-week arbitration on behalf of a global airline carrier in a breach of contract action involving over one billion in damages (International Centre for Dispute Resolution);
- A five-week wire fraud jury trial involving more than $600 million in foreign currency transactions (Northern District of Georgia);
- A three-week securities-fraud jury trial involving a complex “pump and dump” scheme (Northern District of Georgia);
- A two-week jury trial involving fraud, bribery, and corruption with DeKalb County and Georgia World Congress Center contracts (Northern District of Georgia);
- A federal jury trial arising out of a sophisticated bank fraud scheme impacting financial institutions across the Southeast (Northern District of Georgia):
- A one-week arbitration against one of the largest online brokerage firms in the world (FINRA);
- A major contract and intellectual property dispute between two leading fintech companies (Cobb County Superior Court, Georgia); and
- A federal jury trial against two “sovereign citizens” facing bank fraud and tax charges (Northern District of Georgia).
Chambers USA also recognizes him for his “impressive white-collar criminal defense practice” and his “particular expertise” in cybercrime investigations. Before co-founding Chaiken Ghali LLP, Mr. Ghali served as an Assistant United States Attorney and a Deputy Chief at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, where he led major white-collar and international cybercrime prosecutions—including the widely reported SpyEye case—and received the DOJ Director’s Award for Superior Performance. In private practice, he has secured dismissals and quiet declinations of prosecution for corporate and executive clients facing government investigations.
He previously clerked for the Hon. Thomas W. Thrash, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, and the Hon. Frank M. Hull, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Before launching Chaiken Ghali LLP, he was a partner at Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore LLP.