Overview
Todd Baiad is a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department with more than two decades of experience representing clients in high-stakes, complex disputes. Since joining the Firm in 2000 after graduating from Emory University School of Law, Mr. Baiad has built a reputation for helping clients solve their most challenging legal problems with strategic precision and practical judgment.
Mr. Baiad’s practice focuses on admiralty and maritime matters, complex commercial litigation, intellectual property disputes, class actions, and personal injury claims. He serves as outside litigation counsel to shipping lines, banks, professional service firms, and Fortune 100 companies. A trusted advisor in the maritime industry, he acts as correspondent to multiple P&I Clubs for the Port of Savannah and has litigated several of the largest maritime casualties in the Southeastern United States. He regularly counsels maritime interests in matters arising throughout Georgia and across major port cities in the region.
Among his most notable representations, Mr. Baiad served as counsel to the Democratic National Committee and Joe Biden in an election contest case before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in 2020.
His broad commercial litigation practice has taken him to courts at the local, state, and federal levels not only throughout Georgia, but also in Chicago, San Francisco, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Mississippi, New York City, New Jersey, Jacksonville, and Miami. In recognition of his extensive federal court experience, the New York State Bar Association invited him to speak on federal court litigation in Georgia at its annual meeting in Dublin. He also chaired a panel alongside Judge Loretta Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York addressing professionalism in federal practice.
Despite his national practice, Mr. Baiad remains deeply committed to his community. He previously chaired Emory University’s annual Savannah CARE Project, has represented numerous public interest clients pro bono, and served for many years as a cabinet member of the United Way of the Coastal Empire. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, where he is a member of the Law and Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Baiad earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a minor in Economics, from the University of Georgia in 1997, where he was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. During law school, he clerked for the Federal Trade Commission, focusing on antitrust litigation.
He has been consistently recognized for professional excellence. Mr. Baiad has been named to Best Lawyers in America multiple times and was honored as “Lawyer of the Year” in Admiralty and Maritime Law (2023) and Product Liability Litigation—Defendants (2024). He has also been selected as a Rising Star and Super Lawyer by Georgia Super Lawyers and included in Georgia Trend’s Legal Elite. His maritime work has been featured by National Public Radio, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Wall Street Journal, and Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Mr. Baiad is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Georgia. He is a Proctor Member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, where he serves on the Nominating Committee, and previously served as Port Director for Savannah in the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute.
Mr. Baiad’s reported decisions include the following:
- Roberson v. Seaspan Corporation, et. al, 2021 WL 5037684 (S.D. Ga. 2021).
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Jolly v. Hoegh Autoliners Shpping A/S, 2021 WL 11728077 (M.D. Fla 2021);
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WILKINSON v. FA VINNEN & CO., GmbH & Co. KG; Zim Integrated Shipping, 2021 WL 1085333 (S.D. Ga. 2021)
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Mortimer Family Funeral Home, LLC v. Johnson Consulting Group, et. al, 2020 WL 1817295 (N.D. Miss. 2020);
- Purvis v. Maersk Line A/S, 795 Fed.Appx. 756 (11 th Cir. 2020);
- Ray Capital, Inc. et. al v. M/V Newlead Castellano, 2017 AMC 2614 (S.D. Ga. 2017);
- MMA Capital Corporation v. ALR Oglethorpe, et. al 336 Ga. App. 360 (2016);
- Triad Health Management of Georgia, III, LLC v. Johnson, 298 Ga. App. 204, 679 S.E.2d 785 (2009);
- Barnette v. Coastal Hematology & Oncology, PC, 294 Ga. App. 733, 670 S.E.2d 217 (2008);
- Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Camp Systems Intern., Inc., 428 F.Supp.2d 1369 (S.D. Ga. 2006);
- Sweeney v. Branigar Properties, Inc. 277 Ga. App. 677, 627 S.E.2d 409 (2006);
- ßBlige v. M/V Geechee Girl, 180 F.Supp.2d 1349 (S.D. Ga. 2001).