RYALS DRAYTON STONE

Ryals Drayton Stone

Member

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Phone: 404-905-1281

Fax: 404-445-8003

Ryals D. Stone is a Partner in the Rome office of Stone Law Group. He represents individual and small business plaintiffs in cases involving catastrophic personal injuries or wrongful death, specifically those caused by motor vehicle accidents or trucking collisions, unsafe premises, industrial boiler explosions, defective products, medical negligence by a medical provider, insurance bad faith or financial fraud, and other civil RICO racketeering conspiracies.

During his career as a trial attorney Ryals has handled many complex civil cases and has been an active and integral member of the firm’s trial team during numerous multi-week jury trials, which have resulted in verdicts and settlements of over $150 million combined.

Ryals is the oldest son of Stone Law Group senior partner William S. Stone. The firm’s predecessor was founded in 1915 by Ryals’ great-grandfather, the late William Lowrey Stone. Past members of the firm include Ryals’ grandfather, Lowrey S. Stone, who later served for 15 years as Chief Judge of Superior Courts, Pataula Judicial Circuit. Upon being admitted to the Georgia Bar in 2010, Ryals proudly became the 5th straight generation of Georgia attorneys in the Stone family.

Raised in his hometown of Blakely in rural Southwest Georgia, Ryals went on to earn his undergraduate degree in History from University of Georgia in 2005 and his law degree in 2009 from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

During law school, Ryals also studied International Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Cambridge in England. He earned the highest marks in several of his law school classes, including Trial Advocacy Basic Skills and Professional Responsibility. As a 3rd Year law student he was selected as a distinguished Abraham J. Caruthers Fellow, chosen to mentor Cumberland’s renowned first-year legal research and writing program. Throughout his final year of law school, Ryals gained valuable practice experience as a law clerk in the Bessemer, Alabama District Attorney’s Office and for the In-House Counsel at Southern Progress Corporation.

Ryals is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts of the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Georgia. He is a Champion member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA), American Association of Justice (AAJ), Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), the Rome Bar Association, and he currently serves as President of the Pataula Circuit Bar Association. He has continuously served as a voting member of GTLA’s Executive Committee since 2013 and currently serves as an elected officer of the Civil Justice PAC’s Board of Directors. He has served GTLA’s Verdict Editorial Board as a Board member and frequent contributing author since 2015. Ryals currently serves on the Board of Governors of AAJ as one of only 5 Governors from Georgia. Ryals has also served multiple terms on the Board of Directors for the State Bar of Georgia’s Young Lawyers Division.

However, above any of his career achievements Ryals is most proud of his role as the founding member and inaugural Co-Chair of GTLA’s “LEAD” Program (“Leadership Education and Advanced Direction”), a leadership academy he co-created specifically for talented young Georgia trial lawyers. Today, the program boasts nearly 100 LEAD alumni over its first five years, many of whom are now counted as among GTLA’s highest-ranking officers and Board members.

Ryals and his wife Lauren live in Rome with their son Jack (3), and they are currently expecting their second son, Harrison Sims Stone, in early January 2019. The Stones are active members of the First Baptist Church of Rome, where Ryals serves on the church’s Budget Finance Committee. They are also members of Coosa Country Club and the Rome Floyd Chamber of Commerce; Ryals was recently selected as a member of the Rome Floyd Chamber’s 2018-19 Leadership Rome class. Together, they enjoy spending time with their family neighborhood friends in Rome as well as relaxing summer weekends at Lake Blue Ridge. The Stones are huge UGA football fans; they attend virtually every Bulldogs home game Between the Hedges in Athens.

Areas of Practice

60% Catastrophic Personal Injury; 40% Wrongful Death
40% Motor Vehicle & Trucking;
20% Medical Malpractice;
20% Premises Liability;
10% Products Liability
10% Insurance Bad Faith/ Fraud/ Civil RICO violations

Litigation Percentage

100% of Practice Devoted to Litigation

Bar Admissions

Georgia, 2010
U.S. District Court Northern District of Georgia, 2011
U.S. District Court Middle District of Georgia, 2011
District Court Middle District of Georgia, 2016
Supreme Court of Georgia, 2011
Georgia Court of Appeals, 2011

Education

Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama (J.D., 2009)
Study Abroad Program at the University of Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, England
Honors: Awarded highest marks in International Comparative Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility, and Basic Skills in Trial Advocacy
Abraham J. Caruthers Fellow
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (B.A. – History, 2005)
Presidential Scholar – Summer 2003, Summer 2004
Dean’s List – Fall 2000
Phi Gamma Delta fraternity

Notable Cases

Classes/Seminars

“Important Questions to Ask During Voir Dire”, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2013
“Black Diamond Damages: Maximizing Your Client’s Non-Economic Damages at Trial”, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s SkiLE, Park City, Utah, March 2016
“Generations of GTLA Leadership: A Tradition of Active Involvement and Giving Back”, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s LEAD Program Kickoff Session, Athens, Georgia, November 2017
“Why LEAD Matters”, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2018
Co-Chair, GTLA LEAD Program, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, 2013 – 2015

Honors and Awards