Chattanooga attorney Gary Gerbitz is sitting next to one of his senior partners at Miller & Martin, talking about his tenure with the firm. He came to Miller & Martin in 2002 after serving decades as district attorney general of the 11th district of Tennessee and as a criminal court judge in Hamilton County. His experience handling criminal matters makes him an ideal advocate for clients charged with complex white-collar crimes.
Gerbitz speaks in brief sentences, his tone matter-of-fact and to-the-point, which suits his background and stature in the legal profession.
His senior partner has been at Miller & Martin longer, but has spent less time practicing law. She came to the firm in 1994 after graduating from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville College of Law and worked her way up the ranks as a civil litigator. In court, she’s well prepared and articulate, and has an uncanny ability to convince juries to see her client’s side.
The austere shell around Gerbitz cracks slightly as he admits to being proud of her. But his admiration goes deeper than the respect one lawyer might have for another, as the woman is not only his senior partner, but also his daughter, Leah.
“How can I be objective?” he says as he extols her virtues. “She’s a better lawyer than me. She has great respect for the courts and the judges, and she understands people and how to try a case. She learned those things on her own,” he says.
“Did you hear what happened two weeks ago?” he asks.
Leah tries to shush her father, but he’s on a roll. He proceeds to describe the sizable jury verdict she and attorney Neil Brunetz recently secured for a Tennessee Tech student hurt on a slip-and-slide. The two of them convinced the jury the ride was dangerous and awarded the young man, who had to undergo spinal fusion surgery, several million dollars.
“It’s amazing to watch her. The only person more proud of her than I am is her mother,” he says.
Gerbitz has been watching his daughter for years. When she was young, he’d leave work to attend her local track meets, regardless of what was going on at the office.
“He was at every cross country race, sitting there in his suit. That meant a lot. He was also direct and firm when I screwed up, which I appreciate,” Leah says, looking up at her dad, who’s a few inches taller.
Leah has been looking up to Gerbitz since she was young. She would hear on the news about the criminals he was prosecuting, and then see him walk through the door of their home at the end of the day. When she was young, she was always relieved to see him.
“My sister, Leslie, and I thought if he lost in court, he would have to go to jail. We would worry about that,” she says, laughing.
While a child has a natural respect for his or her parents, Leah’s admiration of her father deepened as she came to understand he was a man of integrity.
“People would tell me he could easily get away with corruption, but he was as honest as the day is long. That made me proud,” she says.
Gerbitz takes a turn at shushing.
Although people have assumed Gerbitz urged his daughter to pursue a career in law, Leah says that’s not the case. “Dad wanted my sister and me to have a degree so we could make a living, but he never told us what to do,” she says.
Gerbitz says he wanted Leah to make her own decisions. “There are a lot of drawbacks to being a lawyer, so you shouldn’t be one because your father was. I didn’t push her. In fact, I had little to say about it.”
Leah received more exposure to the legal profession while working as a runner during her summers off from classes at Vanderbilt. She liked the idea of helping people through her work, and during her senior year, decided to take the LSAT.
When Leah told her father the news, his reaction was characteristically reserved. However, when she later told him UT had accepted her, he was thrilled. “He decorated the kitchen in orange and white streamers,” Leah says.
Gerbitz continued to support his daughter as she graduated from law school and embarked on her career at Miller & Martin, though his advice was sparing and geared toward teaching her to find answers on her own. “Early on, she had a problem with a civil procedure. I told her the most important people aren’t the judges or the other layers, but the clerks. I said, ‘Go see Paula Thompson and tell her you’re as dumb as a wall and need help.’ And she did,” he says.
Through the years, Leah continued to look to her father for counsel. Calls him an excellent judge of character, and says if she’s having an issue with someone, he can sort through the factors creating the problem and help her to understand how to solve it. By the time Gerbitz came to work at Miller & Martin, Leah was well on her way.
“I’m glad dad came when I was already established and that my being here is not about working for him. When we’re here, we’re colleagues,” she says.
Certain aspects of their personal relationship do occasionally bleed into work. For example, despite the kind words the two have been exchanging, Gerbitz says they fight like cats and dogs. “This is a great relationship and we love each other, but we fight all the time. I assume that’s normal. If either one of us walked around idolizing the other person, that wouldn’t be normal,” he says.
This dynamic rose to the surface during the slip-and-slide trial, when she was in Cookeville and the rest of the office had designated him to retrieve updates. “I was expressing my interest in what she was doing, and she got tired of talking about it,” he says.
Gerbitz also suggests his daughter’s interest in his advice might be waning. “When you’re 40, your daughter thinks you’re pretty smart, but when she’s 40 and you’re 70, you suddenly don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says.
“I’d say something, but we’d end up fighting,” Leah says.
Although the two appear to be on the cusp of a quarrel, there’s no tension in the room.
“If you heard us talking, you’d say, ‘Boy, those two don’t get along,’ but you’d be wrong. This is how we get along,” Gerbitz says.
Since Gerbitz and Leah practice different kinds of law, the time they spend in close proximity at work is limited. This preserves their relationship for the time they spend together as family. Gerbitz and his wife, Kate, count themselves lucky to have both of their daughters and all four of their grandkids in Chattanooga. “A lot of parents raise and educate their kids, and then the kids go somewhere else,” he says.
As a lawyer, Leah has a full schedule, so time off is a valuable commodity usually spent with her children, who are 6 and 8. She looks forward to time with her mother and sister as well, as they provide the balance that keeps their family together. “They’re artistic, compassionate souls, and it’s been good to have that balance,” she says.
At the end of the day, though, Leah is glad to be working at the same firm as her father, arguments and all. She says being able to “talk the talk” with him has drawn them closer and helped them to better understand each other.
Gerbitz does not object. “Miller & Martin is a great place to practice law, and to have the opportunity to work at the same high quality firm as my daughter and to be involved with her on that level is unique. Also wonderful is seeing her be as good as she is at what she does,” he says.
The Gerbitz family usually does brunch or dinner on Father’s Day, although everyone has to work it around dad’s golf game. Gerbitz and Leah will probably bicker at some point, but when the dust settles, one thing will be clear: They love each other and are glad to be a part of each other’s lives, both at home and at work.