An estate and probate attorney (with an AV rating, which is the highest rating possible) in Cumming, Georgia, W. Russell Hodges has driven operations at Hodges Law Firm, LLC, in the position of managing partner since 1976. His areas of focus include trusts, wills, conservatorships, and matters of fiduciary litigation, among other practice areas. Over nearly five decades, Warner Russell Hodges has recovered tens of millions of dollars for his clients. He has earned numerous industry awards and received recognition as one of Georgia’s top practitioners of law.
During his career as an estate and probate attorney, Russell Hodges spent several years as the elected mayor of the City of Germantown, a city of approximately 40,000 residents adjacent to Memphis, Tennessee. His achievements as mayor ranged from balancing a $15 million annual budget to expanding the city’s infrastructure. His improvements resulted in Germantown becoming the first city in Tennessee to secure a Triple-Bond Rating.
A history student, Russell Hodges, graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University. He continued his education at Nashville’s Vanderbilt Law School, earning his juris doctor and graduating among the top one-third of his class.
What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?
I begin each day early, organizing my office work, setting out what I want done and then turning it over to the appropriate member of my staff to follow through. I review the cases I have taken on in fiduciary litigation, where someone old or mentally feeble has been cheated. I research my notes, find the law to support my case, and schedule discovery, including depositions, to prepare for trial.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I try to put myself into the place of the person or family that I am serving, whether in a will, trust or estate, or in a lawsuit to right a wrong done. I then try to find a way to tell a judge or jury best what has been done and how it can be corrected. Put it into a story, because people like stories. Lay out my strengths and the other side’s weaknesses.
What’s one trend that excites you?
In Georgia, we have a statute that provides a criminal remedy and process to handle a situation of elder abuse. I have researched and written up a statute which provides a civil cause of action for elder abuse. If passed, a person or their family will not have to wait until the elderly one is dead to go after the person engaging in the abuse. It will be immediate.
What is one habit that helps you be productive?
Prioritizing nearly everything. Keeping the main thing the main thing. There are days when I can devote my time to focusing on the larger things—generally, in fiduciary litigation, to right a wrong. Then there are the days basically devoted to doing the small things that need to be done so that I don’t neglect anything.
What advice would you give your younger self?
The law is complex. It is hard to be a generalist in law trying to be excellent in a large number of areas. It is much more productive for you and your client when you specialize in a few areas and get really good in them. Saves time when a case comes in in my chosen areas and enables me to refer those things I don’t feel comfortable with to an attorney who specializes in that area.
Tell us something you believe almost nobody agrees with you on?
Most will clients are really reluctant to do anything other than an equal division among their children if their spouse is dead. I tell them that when that the will is read, they are dead, that their estate is money they earned over their lifetime, and that they can leave it the way they want. Some children simply aren’t good people and probably are just waiting to see what they inherit. Inheritance is not a right. Leave only to those who deserve it.
What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?
Live on less than what you earn. Save a bit each year (10 percent), starting in your 20s, and you will die a multimillionaire.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
I count my blessings. I have so many. I visualize the worst thing that could happen and plan for what I will do if it does. Then I have a plan and don’t feel overwhelmed or helpless. Then I force myself to do the most distasteful thing I should do that day early in the day.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?
Really studying and learning in the areas of elder law, so that I am among the very best. People come to me seeking competence but also looking for someone they can trust with their financial affairs. Finally, being really interested in them, not just their assets. Even non-probate attorneys come to me for their probate needs.
What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?
I have only lost one jury trial in the past 15 years. The reason I lost it was that after I had time to really understand the situation, I did not move to get out of the case. My clients were attacking a will for the undue influence of a brother, yet none of them had seen their father, who wrote the will for over eight years. Now, if I discover that things are not as they were represented to me, I move to get out of the case.
What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
It is so easy to Google up a legal subject. You will usually find that someone truly knowledgeable has written on it, and you can start with a lot more knowledge quickly than was possible 20 years ago. Learn to use AI. This gives you a good launchpad.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
It was Christmas Eve. I was in line behind an old lady in well-used clothing who was buying for her grandkids, and she discovered that she was about $100 short to buy for those she loved. I took care of it, and she actually cried. It felt good to help this giving person out.
Do you have a favorite book or podcast you’ve gotten a ton of value from and why?
It’s an old book, written in the ‘30s, called How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Basically, it teaches you not to focus on yourself but to truly listen to and focus on the person you are with. As Carnegie says, “you can accomplish more in five minutes by focusing on the other person than in a half hour trying to get them to focus on you.”
What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?
The movie Greater that is about an Arkansas boy, fat and clumsy, from a small North Arkansas town who never gave up. He wanted to play football for the University of Arkansas, was rejected, elected to basically be a tackling dummy for those on the team, told he had no chance of making the team, lost weight, gained strength and skills, and never gave up. He made the team and was in his senior year a football All-American. Gave credit to God.
Key learnings
- Review what you have done and focus on the good.
- Remember the people who helped you on the way and thank them.
- Count your blessings and be grateful.
- Aim to specialize in a few areas rather than be a generalist or jack-of-all-trades.