Theresa D. Beaton

Theresa focuses her insurance practice on representing insurers in connection with general liability, D&O, and professional liability issues. She counsels insurers on underlying exposures of securities and derivative litigation as well as a broad range of first- and third-party liability insurance coverage issues involving duty to defend, additional insured, and bad faith exposure.

Theresa has extensive experience litigating complex commercial and insurance disputes in federal and state courts nationwide at both the trial and appellate levels. She manages all phases of litigation, including strategic case assessment, fact and expert discovery, corporate representative and expert witness depositions, dispositive and evidentiary motion practice, evidentiary hearings, oral argument, trial preparation, and appeals. She regularly represents insurers in high-exposure coverage and bad faith disputes involving complex underlying liabilities.

Theresa has also represented corporate and individual clients in a variety of other civil litigation matters, including cases involving director and officer liability, breach of contract, trade secrets, noncompetition covenants, fraud, real estate purchase agreements, and defamation. Her experience litigating commercial disputes enables her to advise insurers regarding potential liability, defense strategy, settlement considerations, and bad faith exposure.

Theresa began her legal career as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Lisa Godbey Wood in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in Brunswick, Georgia. She is the immediate past Chairperson of the Court Advisory Committee of the Southern District of Georgia, where she also serves on the Civil Local Rules Committee.

Theresa has also served as a Magistrate Judge in Glynn County, Georgia, where she conducted felony preliminary hearings, bond hearings, and warrant application hearings, and reviewed arrest and search warrants, in addition to adjudicating an array of civil matters.

Theresa lives on St. Simons Island with her husband, Chip, and their three children. Theresa is a former Chairperson and graduate of Leadership Glynn.

• Georgia Bar

• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

• U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Georgia

• Supreme Court of Georgia; Georgia Court of Appeals; and All Superior and State Courts in Georgia