Michael W. Tyler is a Partner with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP in the firm’s Complex Business Litigation Section and leads both the Franchise Litigation Group and the Land Use Litigation Group. His practice focuses on commercial litigation, franchise litigation, business torts and land use litigation. Mr. Tyler was the first African-American to be made partner at Kilpatrick Townsend – Atlanta’s oldest major corporate law firm.
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Mr. Tyler earned a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University and a B.A. degree summa cum laude from Morehouse College where he was class Salutatorian and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
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Mr. Tyler served as a Judicial Law Clerk on the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and has the distinction of being the first African-American to serve as a Judicial Law Clerk on that court.
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Mr. Tyler has served the community in a myriad of leadership capacities. He is the current Chairman of the Franchise and Distribution Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. He also currently serves as Chairman of the Boards of the UrbanGreenhouse Institute and Providence Manor Development Corp., and as a member of the Boards of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Covenant House Georgia, the Metro Atlanta Association of Phi Beta Kappa, and Providence Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Tyler previously served as Chairman of the Board of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Piedmont Park Conservancy, Vice-Chairman of the Atlanta Zoning Review Board, Vice-Chairman of the Board of the National Black Arts Festival, Vice-Chairman of the Board of The Children’s School, Vice-President of the Gate City Bar Association, and a member of the Boards of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, the State Bar of Georgia Disciplinary Board, the Atlanta Urban League, and Economic Opportunity Atlanta.
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Mr. Tyler has received numerous honors and awards, including The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Commercial Litigation, Georgia Super Lawyers in the Field of Business Litigation, Who’s Who Legal: Franchise, Georgia’s “Legal Elite” by Georgia Trend Magazine, and “Who’s Who in Atlanta” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He is the recipient of the Justice Robert Benham Award – the State Bar of Georgia’s highest award for community service. He was inducted into the Gate City Bar Association’s Hall of Fame and was twice awarded the A.T. Walden Outstanding Lawyer Award. He also received the Morehouse College Alumni Association Trailblazer Award, the Morehouse College Political Science Department Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Let Us Make Man Award for Excellence in the Law, the Concerned Black Clergy Father of the Year Award, and Atlanta Business League Man of Influence Award.
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Among Mr. Tyler’s most notable civic contributions was the creation of the Booker T. Washington High School Freedom Writers Program, where Kilpatrick Townsend mentored 78 students for their entire four years of high school with 99% of the students gaining admission to college and being awarded 335 scholarships totaling $8.5 million.
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Mr. Tyler also spearheaded the development of the $5.2‑million Providence Manor Senior Citizens complex for low income seniors in southwest Atlanta, for which Kilpatrick Townsend donated hundreds of hours of pro bono legal services.
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Mr. Tyler is married to Cathy Clark Tyler. The couple are the proud parents of three adult sons, Michael, Jr., Malcolm and Matthew.
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