Better Together: The Benefits of Having a Diverse Team

Whitney Lay Greene is an experienced civil litigator and trial attorney, practicing throughout the state of Georgia. She handles a broad spectrum of matters in the fields of commercial transportation, ride-share/gig economy liability, premises liability, and product liability. Whitney handles cases from pre-suit through resolution, including trials and appeals. She assists with response to pre-suit preservation letters and routinely performs emergency response and on-scene investigation services in the wake of catastrophic events to preserve her client’s interests and minimize exposure.

Whitney prides herself on handling all matters for her clients but focuses her practice on cases with complex liability and medical causation issues, including catastrophic injury and wrongful death claims. She has a wealth of experience in all aspects of litigation, including motion practice, expert depositions, mediations, and representing clients at the trial and appellate level. Her success relies on her ability to fully understand the desired resolution as she works to provide creative and effective strategies on behalf of her clients. 

Prior to joining the firm, Whitney was a partner in an Atlanta firm.

Lara Ortega Clark is a general liability defense attorney practicing in Georgia. Her practice focuses on transportation matters, including trucking and rideshare litigation. She is also practices in the areas of premises liability, negligent security, personal injury and wrongful death on behalf of businesses, insurance carriers and third-party administrators. Lara has successfully litigated matters in state and federal courts throughout Georgia.

Lara is committed to providing her clients with comprehensive and business-minded legal advice to remain cost-effective and minimize risk. Lara is able to provide aggressive and creative approaches to litigation thanks to her background both as an NCAA Division III Nationals-qualifying swimmer, as well as her work as a freelance professional cellist, including recording a studio album with a Billboard Top 10 artist. As a proud Colombian, Lara is able to converse with Spanish-speaking parties and clients which provides additional benefit to the businesses she represents. 

Before joining Chartwell Law, Lara practiced general liability matters for an Atlanta-based law firm.

An experienced civil litigator, Melody Kiella focuses her practice on complex civil litigation, including trucking/transportation law, catastrophic personal injury defense, premises liability and negligent security. Melody serves on MGC’s Trucking: Rapid Response Team. Her clients have included motor carriers, logistics and supply chain companies, commercial motor vehicle drivers, a national rideshare company, a Southeast real estate investment trust involved in multifamily and residential development and management, national and local retailers and insurers.

Melody believes that by truly understanding her clients’ business and goals, she can provide the best possible relationship and legal service. Her experience handling high-volume and high-profile cases from pre-litigation through trial has allowed Melody to develop key insights and strategies that impact her clients’ matters.

She is heavily involved in the legal industry’s many defense associations. As an active member of the Defense Research Institute (DRI), Melody serves as the Online Programming Chair. She has also served as the 2021 Trucking Law Primer Vice Chair for DRI’s Trucking Law Committee and the Publications Chair for “DRI for Life.” Through her membership in the American Bar Association (ABA), Melody was selected to participate in the 2021-2022 ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Leadership Academy. She is a member of the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, an invite-only organization composed of recognized leaders in the legal community who have achieved professional distinction.