North Fulton Law Firms Merge to Form Hipes & Belle Isle

The law firms of Bach, Dewberry & Hipes, Belle Isle Law Group LLC and Cashion Law LLC are now Hipes & Belle Isle, bringing together the expertise and practice-area range of three prominent North Fulton law firms.

Hipes & Belle Isle will hold a ribbon-cutting and open house at its new offices at the Park Plaza in downtown Alpharetta on Friday, March 15, at 4 p.m., to commemorate the union of the three firms.

“With veteran and tested attorneys, we provide value to our clients through understanding, responsiveness and uncompromising service,” said David Belle Isle, principal.

Now North Atlanta’s premier full-service business law firm, Hipes & Belle Isle offers expertise in:

• Business Litigation
• Real Estate Law and Secured Transactions
• Corporate, Contract and Technology Agreements
• Employment Law
• Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning
• Litigation Management
• Landlord/Tenant Law

“As a firm, we strongly believe in serving our community,” said John Hipes, principal. “Our attorneys serve in Rotary and Kiwanis, in city government, on church boards, and in business associations throughout the area,” he said.

The firm’s principals are each members of the State Bar of Georgia, the North Fulton Bar Association, the Alpharetta Rotary Club, and they both sit on the Board of Directors of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. The firm is a member of both the Alpharetta and Johns Creek Business Associations, and it is represented on the Milton Business Alliance.

John Hipes

John Hipes has built a presence in the Atlanta area practicing law for the past 25 years, most recently with Bach, Dewberry & Hipes. His commercial-litigation practice includes insurance coverage and interpretation, construction, real estate, employment, partnership and shareholder disputes, and tort and injury law. He has successfully resolved and tried numerous business and contract lawsuits. Hipes is admitted to practice in all Georgia courts, the United States District Court, and the United States Court of Appeals’ Eleventh Circuit. An involved civic and community leader, he sits on the Board of Trustees of Alpharetta First United Methodist Church, the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Rotary Student Program, the Board of Directors of the Alpharetta Public Safety Foundation, and the Board of Directors of the North Fulton Bar Association.

David Belle Isle

David Belle Isle has practiced real-estate law for more than 12 years, most recently as the principal of the Belle Isle Law Group. He also serves as Mayor of the City of Alpharetta. His legal expertise is in closing commercial real estate and other secured-transaction loans, involving both conventional and Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 funding. He designs documentation strategies to collateralize real estate, equipment, income streams, guaranties and lease obligations. He represents national, regional and local banks in term loans, lines of credit and construction loans, facilitating the refinance and purchase of all types of commercial property. Belle Isle has been named a Top Young Attorney in Georgia (2009 and 2012) by Atlanta Magazine’s Super Lawyers Edition and Best Attorney by My Alpharetta Magazine (2012). He is a member of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, the Georgia Lender’s Quality Circle, the North Fulton Mayor’s Association, and he sits on the Board of Directors of the Alpharetta Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Karen Cashion

Karen Cashion, a partner in the firm, brings a deep understanding of corporate and technology law to the table. A former assistant general counsel for EarthLink, she has more than 15 years of combined in-house and law-firm experience. Cashion specializes in protecting clients’ business interests and intellectual property by negotiating and drafting comprehensive agreements, such as software licensing, managed services, web hosting, reseller, nondisclosure, noncompetition, buy/sell/lease and franchise agreements.

She is a frequent and respected speaker on the topic of managing litigation risk and costs. Currently, Cashion serves on the Board of Directors of the North Fulton Bar Association and on the City of Alpharetta’s Natural Resources Commission.

John Bach

John Bach, founding partner at Bach, Dewberry & Hipes, is stepping away from his role as a firm manager, however he will continue to practice law within the structure of the new Hipes & Belle Isle firm. A fourth-generation attorney, Bach has for the past 35 years built a thriving business-litigation practice, encompassing employment, insurance, construction and personal-injury law. Bach has tried cases in state and federal courts, as well as before the American Arbitration Association. He has argued cases before the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit United State Court of Appeals, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Georgia Supreme Court. He is also a certified mediator. Bach is a past Director of the North Fulton Bar Association and the Georgia Bank Counsel Section of the Georgia Bankers Association, and past president and current member of the North Fulton Rotary Club.

Also members of the Hipes & Belle Isle firm are Dale Dewberry, a founding partner at Bach, Dewberry & Hipes, continuing his practice in the areas of corporate transactions, wills, trusts and estates; and Alan Ness, practicing business litigation, and Layne Kamsler, practicing employment law, each also formerly with Bach, Dewberry & Hipes.