Keynote Speaker

Thomas Best

2013 Retail, Restaurant and Hospitality Conference

Associate General Counsel
Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.

Tom Best is Associate General Counsel at Home Depot. where he leads a team that manages the Company’s casualty, products liability, first property and torts claims and litigation. Tom is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt and has been trained as a Six Sigma Black Belt. During Tom’s time at the Company, Tom’s group has pioneered several successful new programs including: National Discovery Counsel, Early Case Assessment and Evaluation, Regionalization of Products Liability Counsel, Regionalization of Torts Counsel, and Alternative Fee Approaches to Torts and Products Liability Litigation. Tom has presented on general liability matters, the relationship between outside and in house counsel, cost containment, and alternative fee strategies on numerous occasions.

Tom is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University where he served on the Editorial Board as Student Writing Editor. Tom is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, Defense Research Institute, National Retail and Restaurant Defense Association, the Association of Corporate Counsel. Tom is also a Fellow of the Counsel on Litigation Management and serves as a Co-Chairperson of the Litigation Management Committee. Tom maintains an “AV” rating with Martindale-Hubbell.