Founding partner receives prestigious award after remarkable year highlighted by firm’s leadership on Georgia’s squatting epidemic
ATLANTA (March 17, 2025) – Williams Teusink founding partner R. Kyle Williams is named a 2025 “Distinguished Leader” by The Daily Report’s Southeastern Legal awards, the firm announced today. The award recognizes lawyers achieving impressive results in 2024 while demonstrating strong leadership skills yielding meaningful impact.
Williams was on the front lines of the Georgia Squatter Reform Act, a newly passed law criminalizing squatting, allowing property owners to collect damages and speed up the eviction process in the Peach State from eight months to just ten days. Using the knowledge gleaned from representing hundreds of property owners hamstrung by archaic statutes, Williams and his colleagues advised the state lawmakers who crafted the bill. It ultimately passed with broad bipartisan support, became the first in the nation to go into effect, and now serves as a blueprint for several other states pondering similar legislation.
The list of new clients Williams handled included four different national real estate investment trusts and property management companies, one of which has seen its caseload dwindle from more than 300 to less than a dozen. Mom-and-pop rental homeowners also found relief thanks to Williams and his team putting together client one-sheeters to explain the new law and the useful mechanisms they could use to bring their cases to a successful conclusion.
“I am humbled and honored to be included in this exceptional group of legal professionals,” said Williams. “Many of my colleagues at Williams Teusink put in a lot of elbow grease on the squatting issue this past year, and it is extremely gratifying to know we were able to help effect positive change for property owners across Georgia. Any recognition is a credit to our entire team.”
Williams continues to represent various downtown development authorities across Metro Atlanta, adding Stone Mountain DDA to his client roster in 2024. He is advising the organization on a significant capital improvement project on Main Street, along with other initiatives helping to revitalize the city’s main commercial district. Williams also serves as lead counsel for DDAs in Decatur and Avondale Estates.
Williams and other Southeastern Legal Awards honorees will be celebrated at a gala event on May 1 at The Whitley in Atlanta, and will also be featured in an upcoming edition of The Daily Report. Attorneys and law firms from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee competed for a variety of honors in this year’s program.
About Williams Teusink
Williams Teusink is a law firm located in Decatur, Georgia, serving clients throughout metro Atlanta and the state. Our attorneys assist clients in navigating litigation and transactions in real estate, commercial, and corporate law and serve as leaders and stakeholders in the community and beyond. We zealously advocate for individuals, governments, nonprofits, entrepreneurial companies, and international corporations. For more information, visit: https://williamsteusink.com/.
