George Cate is a trial lawyer who focuses his practice on business litigation, government enforcement proceedings, internal investigations, and related counseling. His experience includes advising clients on the management of complex legal matters that involve significant public scrutiny and exposure on multiple fronts, including civil, criminal, and reputational. George has served as a trusted advisor to public and private companies and business executives in several industries, including healthcare, hospitality, petroleum, construction, airport, public power, book and digital content distribution, banking, tire, and automobile and aviation manufacturing.

George’s business litigation experience includes the representation of U.S. and international clients in federal and state court. During his more than 30 years of practice, he has handled complex contract and business tort litigation between parties to a full range of commercial relationships; intra-company disputes involving corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships; executive liability for breach of fiduciary duty, restrictive covenants, and other legal obligations; misappropriation of trade secrets and other intellectual property disputes; bank fraud, embezzlement, and consumer fraud; disputes under the False Claims Act; lender liability, disputes involving financial institutions serving as trustees, and other banking litigation; federal tax litigation; and a variety of other business disputes. 

George also has represented businesses in the defense of high-exposure personal injury litigation, including mass tort cases and the defense of automotive and aviation manufacturers in product liability litigation.

Over the course of his career, George has tried jury and bench trials in federal and state court. He has obtained the dismissal or other favorable pretrial disposition of many other cases and successfully prosecuted and defended a broad range of injunction proceedings.

George regularly advises hospitals, surgery centers, and other healthcare providers with respect to litigation and the resolution of business disputes, and he also assists them with litigation due diligence and risk assessment in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions. In addition, he advises hospitals and their medical staff in connection with peer review proceedings and conducts fair hearings and related appeals on their behalf.

Over his career, George has represented companies and individuals in the defense of government enforcement actions and investigations. He has defended companies and individuals in civil, administrative, and white-collar criminal investigations brought by federal and state authorities; negotiated agreements to avoid criminal charges and resolve civil claims brought by the government; defended clients in government enforcement proceedings in federal and state court; and represented clients in the defense of administrative actions before government agencies.

George also has represented companies in internal investigations involving highly sensitive matters, including cases where employees or third parties allegedly engaged in schemes to defraud the company and/or the public. George has participated in internal investigations in connection with government enforcement proceedings and has led other internal investigations to assist clients in identifying, containing, and remediating a particular area of potential exposure.

In addition, George has advised clients on the response to private-party claims arising out of government enforcement proceedings, including the successful negotiation of a nationwide class-action settlement agreement that arose out of a highly publicized federal criminal investigation involving one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S.

Bar Admissions

• Tennessee, 1987

• United States Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit
• United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
• United States District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
• United States District Court, Western District of Tennessee
• United States Tax Court

Education

• Emory University School of Law, J.D., 1987, National Order of Barristers, National Moot Court Team
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A., 1984, History