Another search has produced two in-house lawyers and an Asheville, N.C., attorney as finalists for Augusta general counsel.
City officials released the names and resumes of the three finalists for the top lawyer position Thursday. They include senior city staff attorneys Samuel Meller and Zena McClain-Haymon and Asheville Senior Assistant City Attorney Eric Edgerton.
Samuel Meller
Meller joined the city law office in 2021 after working for New York law offices and the Augusta Solicitor General’s office. Admitted to the Georgia bar in 2016 after obtaining a JD from the University of Georgia Law School, Meller said it “would be the honor of a lifetime” to serve as general counsel for Augusta, where he is committed to living “for the rest of my life.”
Meller has been in the hot seat during recent discussions as adviser to the Historic Preservation Commission, one of several city boards he advises as a staff attorney. He also advises the Augusta Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals and served as lead counsel on several Open Records Act lawsuits and litigation over the dissolution of the Augusta Judicial Circuit, according to a cover letter.
Eric Edgerton
Edgerton has a Juris Doctor from George Washington University which he completed in 2014. After serving in private practice for four years, he began as an assistant city attorney for Asheville in 2018 and has served as litigation team lead there for almost a year.
“I can confidently predict that Augusta’s best-qualified candidate for its general counsel will come from a municipal litigation background,” he said in a cover letter.
Edgerton, who also serves on the town council for Woodfin, N.C., noted he handled litigation in Asheville over the removal of the Confederate monument there and involving protests outside of a Planned Parenthood location.
Meller and McClain-Haymon each turned up as finalists in the city’s first search for a general counsel last year prior to the search being discontinued. Not among the current finalists for the position is Interim General Counsel Jim Plunkett, who did not apply.
McClain-Haymon
McClain-Haymon joined city government in 2021 and boasts 28 years of legal experience since obtaining her JD from Saint Louis University in 1995. In Augusta, she’s served as counsel for the city Human Resources, Fire, EMA, EEO, ADA and other divisions.
In Savannah, where she headed a boutique law firm for 24 years, she graduated from Leadership Savannah and at one point served on the Savannah Historic District board of review. McClain-Haymon also ran for district attorney in Savannah three times.
If one of the finalists is selected, he or she would replace Wayne Brown, who resigned last year. Brown was the city’s fourth general counsel since an in-house law office was created in 2007 as required by the Consolidation Act.
Read applicants’ cover letter and resumes below:
Samuel Meller by Susan McCord on Scribd
Eric Edgerton by Susan McCord on Scribd
