| Personal injury lawyer Michael Regas has found teeing off can be a good way to do business |
Personal injury lawyer Michael G. Regas II enjoys playing golf for pleasure, but he says it's often good for his business. He even once settled a case after playing a round with his opposing counsel. "It's easier dealing with somebody when you have played golf with them," explained Regas, a 45-year-old name partner at Houck, Ilardi & Regas. "It takes the edge off. You develop a rapport with them that is more than just business. It makes it easier to pick up the phone and call them." Regas recalled the time when he settled a case involving a crosswalk death. He said his opposing counsel called and suggested a round of golf together might lead to a settlement. So the two lawyers met at Druid Hills Golf Club, where Regas is a member, and played 18 holes. "He had the authority to settle and suggested if we spent a day on the golf course that we could work something out," said Regas. "We did a lot of posturing on the golf course and shared a lot of conversation. Afterward, we had a beer in the clubhouse and sat there for an hour, got serious and then got the case resolved." As a 7.2-handicap golfer, Regas annually plays in a handful of golf tournaments and charity golf outings. He is president of the Buckhead Lions Club and past-chairman of the organization's annual golf outing that raises money for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Last year, the club gave $35,000 to the pediatric hospital. This year's tournament on May 23 will generate another large financial gift for the hospital, said Regas. "This is our primary fundraiser, and it's nice to make such a generous donation each year," Regas said. "I was chairman of the tournament for four years. We always have a super turnout, and it's for a great cause." Contingency Cup Also on the lawyer's golf radar is the third annual Contingency Cup, a team-oriented golf match set for May 26 pitting Regas' law firm against rival firm Cash, Krugler & Fredericks. "We call it the Contingency Cup because we are all plaintiffs' lawyers," said Regas. "We compete for cases with these guys, but the golf course has given us a great forum to become friends." Regas and his law partners—S. Bradley Houck and Frank A. Ilardi—won the Contingency Cup last year and have the hardware to prove it. A 2-foot-high trophy is on display in the lobby of the firm's Dunwoody office. "It is appropriately ostentatious," said Regas. To round out the foursomes in the Contingency Cup, each law firm chooses a defense attorney for their team. Thomas E. "Ted" Lavender III plays with Houck, Ilardi & Regas, and Daniel J. Huff plays with Cash, Krugler & Fredericks. Hooked in college A 1991 graduate of Georgia State University College of Law, Regas took up golf with a passion while attending the University of Georgia in the mid-1980s. A Lambda Chi fraternity brother, William C. "Chip" Collins Jr., invited him to play golf one day, and Regas said he "immediately fell in love with the game." The two friends played golf as often as they could in college, which included regular rounds at the University of Georgia Golf Course. "We ventured out to every golf course within a 60-mile radius of Athens," said Regas. "We had the most fun." The attorney said he and Collins, now a lawyer at Burr & Forman, still play golf together and are teaming up for the Druid Hills member-guest golf tournament in June. Regas said he has played in several member-guest and member-member golf tournaments over the last two decades. He teamed with attorney Michael D. Flint of Flint & Adler to win two member-guests—one at Druid Hills, the other at Capital City Club, where Flint is a member. Regas also won the Druid Hills member-guest in 1995 while playing with his father-in-law, Harry Lockwood. "That solidified our relationship," joked Regas, who married Lockwood's daughter, Mary, in 1993. Masters moment As a long-time Georgia resident, Regas said he has always been a big fan of the Masters Tournament played annually in Augusta. In April, the lawyer took his son, Joe, to the Masters for his 13th birthday. "We were gone from sunup to sundown," said Regas. "It was a very memorable experience, being able to take my son and spend the day with him at the Masters. We had a ball." Father and son were sitting at the 16th hole and saw eventual-winner Charl Schwartzel make birdies on 15 and 16. "We saw a lot of golf," said Regas. "The guys were grinding hard. You could see it in all of their faces." While taking in the golf action, Regas said Joe was telling him what club he would hit on every hole. "He asked me if I could get us on the golf course. It was priceless." Regas said the 2011 Masters was the most exciting tournament since the 1986 Masters, when Jack Nicklaus won his last major championship in dramatic fashion. "I was at the '86 masters," recalled Regas. "I was there on Friday and Saturday. I watched it on TV on Sunday. The whole fraternity house watched it in the TV room. It was awesome. People were going crazy. Jack was big back then. People were huge fans of Nicklaus and definitely our crowd was." |
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