Poydasheff & Sowers, LLC

Where the firm concentrates its work

Columbus, Georgia is where this firm is based, and family law is its main work. Poydasheff & Sowers also carries three other practice areas: small business law, estate planning and administration, and criminal defense. One office handling that mix can cover several kinds of legal need that tend to arrive together in a person's life.

The site does not list a founding year. In my opinion the four-part structure reads as a general civil and family practice with a criminal defense side, the kind of range a mid-size Georgia city tends to support. The firm keeps all four areas under the same name and the same small group of lawyers.

Inside the family law practice

Family law is where the firm lists the most detail. The family menu names more than a dozen services. They include divorce, uncontested divorce, and legal separation, along with child custody and modifications, child support, alimony, and visitation rights. Paternity and property division sit on the same menu, which covers the financial and parental questions a separation raises.

The firm also lists prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, so its family work reaches couples planning ahead as well as those already in a dispute. Adoption sits within the same practice group. That range covers most of the questions Georgia families bring to a family lawyer.

Military and LGBT family matters

These two listings connect the firm to particular client groups. Military family law lines up with partner Robert S. Poydasheff, Jr., who was a JAG officer in the United States Army. LGBT divorce is the other named entry. Both put a specific client on notice that the firm handles their matter.

How the team is built

The firm runs with two partners and four associates, six named attorneys in all. Robert S. Poydasheff, Jr. and Timothy J. Sowers are the partners. Gracie Ham, Caroline Kennedy, Cody Gillies, and McKenna Melander are the associates. That headcount fits a practice spread across four areas.

The partners

Robert S. Poydasheff, Jr. is a Columbus native. He holds a B.A. from The Citadel, earned in 1983, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia, earned in 1986. Before private practice he was a JAG officer in the United States Army, in legal roles that included Family Law Officer and Trial Defense Services. His practice at the firm includes divorce and separation along with business matters.

Timothy J. Sowers earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of West Georgia, where he graduated cum laude, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law. At the firm he practices family law, probate, and general civil litigation. He is also Treasurer and a board member of a sexual assault organization listed in his profile.

The associates

Gracie Ham studied at Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law and practices criminal defense. Cody Gillies also attended Mercer's Walter F. George School of Law, and his work covers family law, estate planning, criminal defense, and employment and labor matters. Caroline Kennedy lists her education at the University of Georgia. McKenna Melander is the fourth associate named on the site.

The profiles line up with the firm's four areas. Poydasheff and Sowers anchor the family and business work, Ham and Gillies carry criminal defense, and both Gillies and Sowers reach estate and probate matters. Cody Gillies also lists employment and labor work among his fields.

Business, estate, and criminal matters

Beyond family law, the firm handles small business work. That practice covers business litigation, business transactions, intellectual property, the sale and acquisition of businesses, business loans, and commercial real estate. A small company in the Columbus area could bring most of its legal needs to one office under that list.

Estate planning and administration is a listed area, and the site names wills and trusts within it. Timothy J. Sowers also practices probate, which connects to the administration side of that work. The firm handles both the planning documents drawn up in advance and the probate process that follows, so a client can stay with one office through each stage. Estate and family matters often overlap within a single household.

Criminal defense

The criminal defense practice is broad on the firm's menu. It names DUI and underage DUI, drug crimes and drug possession, theft crimes, burglary, assault, violent crimes, and misdemeanors. The list includes both misdemeanor-level charges and serious felony categories such as burglary and violent crimes. Gracie Ham practices in this area, and Cody Gillies lists it among his fields, so the firm assigns more than one attorney to criminal work.

What a prospective client can verify

The strongest signal on the site is the roster of named attorneys with their schools and, for the partners, their earlier careers. In my opinion that kind of naming carries weight, because a reader can check a name and a degree against public records. The firm gives that detail for its two partners and for three of its four associates.

The firm reads as a family-law-centered office in Columbus, Georgia, with working coverage in business, estate, and criminal matters. It names six attorneys and four practice areas, with specific services under each. Robert S. Poydasheff, Jr. and Timothy J. Sowers lead it as partners, both graduates of the University of Georgia law school.