Mr. Robert Livingston Fortson

Rob joined GHSM in July 2022 as a Partner in the Firm’s Atlanta office. Rob has extensive experience in education, healthcare, legislative and regulatory law, and labor and employment issues. He regularly advises public sector clients on matters related to administrative and regulatory policy, bid protests and procurement, and legislative lobbying.

Prior to joining GHSM, Rob was a Partner with McGuireWoods LLP, where he was co-chair of the Charter School Group in McGuireWoods’ Education practice. Additionally, while a senior vice president with McGuireWoods Consulting, he served as head of the MWC education team in Georgia, which represents online universities and charter schools, academic services companies, and curriculum and assessment providers.

Through his education practice, Rob advises schools and education service providers on a variety of corporate and operational issues including board governance, facilities acquisition, financing and leasing, charter applications and renewals, FTE allotment and appropriations, employment disputes, IDEA and 504 compliance, student disciplinary issues, and vendor negotiations. He has also represented both charter schools and school systems board members in litigation related to board governance, school system accreditation and school funding. Rob is a certified charter school board governance trainer and has served on the Atlanta Public School’s charter school petition interview committee, which reviews all applications for approval by the school district.

Before joining McGuireWoods Consulting, he served as of counsel at Georgia360 Public Affairs and as a litigation attorney with Turner Bachman & Garrett. He has also served in various roles in and related to federal, state and local government, including stints in the legal counsel's office at the U.S. Department of Education and the Georgia Municipal Association, and a two-year clerkship for U.S. District Court Judge Thomas W. Thrash. Rob received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law and was inducted into the Order of the Coif.