About Cheri
Cheri is a member of the firm’s Commercial and Construction Litigation practice groups. She is the Managing Partner for the Jackson office and the former Chair of the firm’s Construction Law section. In her commercial litigation practice, Cheri represents national and international corporations in the resolution of significant disputes, including complex commercial contract, fraud, and breach of contract cases. Recently, she successfully handled a major commercial fraud case involving allegations of unfair competition, fraud, breach of contract and trade secret infringement. She also successfully tried a copyright infringement claim on behalf of an international entertainment company. Additionally, in 2009, Cheri argued, and won, a complex multi-party commercial insurance case before the Mississippi Supreme Court.
In her construction practice, Cheri represents contractors, owners and sureties in the work-out and resolution of construction defaults, and has defended contractors, owners and engineers in construction-related mass tort cases, including claims for exposure to asbestos, silica, lead, mold, arsenic and other contaminants. Cheri has successfully litigated numerous multimillion dollar claims in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Additionally, Cheri advises clients through the construction process and is currently representing an international company in the construction of a multi-billion dollar industrial facility.
Cheri earned her J.D. with Special Distinction from Mississippi College School of Law in 1996. She is admitted to all Mississippi State and Federal Courts as well as the Fifth Circuit. Cheri is also a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, the American Bar Association (Tort and Insurance Practice Section and Member of the Forum in the Construction Industry), Steering Committee for Division 5 of the Forum of the Construction Industry and former member of the Charles N. Clark Inn of Court.
In 2010, Chambers USA recognized Cheri as a “Leader in their Field.” Chambers, a leading guide to the legal profession, noted, Cheri Gatlin is praised by clients as a “business-minded litigator who comes up with good strategies.”
A frequent writer and speaker, Cheri’s publications and presentations include the following:
“The Age of Turbulence: Managing Money Issues in Construction,” ABA Forum on the Construction Industry (April 2010)
“Ethics and Strategy Regarding the Use of Former Employees as Witnesses or for Information” presented to the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Construction Industry, (May 2006)
“Construction Delay Claims In Mississippi,” (April 2006)
“Contractual Limitations on the Right to Recover Delay Damages and Judicial Enforcement of Limitations”, The Construction Lawyer, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Fall 2002)
“Fundamentals of Construction Law,” Forum on the Construction Industry, American Bar Association, Co-Editor (2001)
“Of Man-Hours and Means: Analyzing Claims for Lost Productivity”, The Construction Lawyer, Vol. 20, No. 2 (April 2000)
“Discovery of Information From an Insurer,” 3 Fidelity Law Assoc. Journal 71 (1997)
“Annual Seminar,” Memphis Bar Association Bankruptcy Section, Co-Author (1996)