Miller & Martin Partner Tom Harrold Given UGA Law School’s Distinguished Scroll Award
April 15, 2024
Miller & Martin PLLC is pleased to announce that partner Tom Harrold received the University of Georgia Law School Alumni Association's Distinguished Scroll Award on April 12, 2024.
Harrold is a longtime supporter of the UGA Law School and has served for many years on the Board of Visitors and the Dean Rusk International Law Center Council. During his career, Harrold has been a tireless promotor of international business, investment and friendship in Georgia. He’s well known in the halls of the State Capitol and with influential people all over the world for his smile, charm and incredible legal and business acumen.
“I want to thank UGA for this recognition. I’m incredibly proud and humbled to receive this award,” said Harrold, who is a 1969 alumnus of the Law School. The accolade is given to graduates for their record of service to the legal profession, the public and the association. Harrold grew up just east of Athens on a poultry farm in Winterville, Georgia and graduated from Columbia University in 1966.
The award has been presented since 1955, and past winners include former Georgia Governors Carl Sanders and Roy Barnes; ex-acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates; former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton, and Philip Alston, co-founder of the Alston, Miller & Gaines law firm (now Alston & Bird) and ex-U.S. ambassador to Australia and Nauru.
“We are proud of Tom for this significant achievement and recognition from his alma mater,” said Miller & Martin Chairman Scott Parrish. “If there are two things people know about Tom, it’s that he’s an incredibly talented lawyer and a very proud University of Georgia law alumni. He’s been an integral part of our firm for the past 25 years”.
Harrold was one of the original five lawyers who founded the Atlanta office of Miller & Martin, the 150-year-old, Chattanooga, Tennessee-based law firm, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary in Atlanta. After more than 50 years of practicing law, Harrold is an active and prominent member of the firm and heads the International Practice Group.
“I was thrilled to pursue my international law practice at Miller & Martin, at a time when other major Atlanta firms had moved their international practices to New York and D.C.,” Harrold said about the anniversary. “Our success speaks to the dedicated legal ethos that Miller & Martin has fostered over its 150-year history and to the forward-looking, global mindset that permeates so much of the business and legal community here in Atlanta.”
Harrold has brought Georgia to the world and the world to Georgia, visiting more than 72 countries, successfully attracting companies which have located in Georgia from Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He’s a loyal Delta Airlines frequent flier with more than 4.25 million flight miles.
Harrold has helped bring companies to the state from Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, France, Taiwan, Japan and China.
In 1988 he was one of the founders of the World Law Group, which is now recognized as one of the premier international legal networks with 61 law firms in 92 countries. Harrold served as President of the World Law Group from 1995-1997 and continues active participation on the Membership Committee.
In 2003, he organized the German Unification Conference which was held at the Georgia World Congress Center and featured former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush. It was moderated by Tom Brokaw with NBC News and covered by C-span and television stations in Germany and Russia. The theme of the Conference was, “with great leadership it is possible to have positive political change without a war.” He was awarded the Cross of Merit in 2009 by Horst Kohler, then President of Germany.
Harrold was a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Officer Training School at Lackland Air Force Base and from 1970-76, he served as a supply, food service and legal officer with the 129th Tactical Air Control Squadron at Dobbins Air Force Base and McCollum Field in Kennesaw, Georgia. In 1974 he received an award from then-Adjutant Gen. and former Gov. Ernest Vandiver for outstanding service to the Georgia Air National Guard. He attained the USAF rank of Captain.
Tom is a longtime member of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta.