Honoring the legacy started by our founding partners is important to us at Drew, Eckl & Farnham. Since we opened for business in 1983, our founding partners, Charlie Drew, Wray Eckl and Clayton Farnham taught us about all aspects of practicing law. Today, our attorneys continue the work ethic and core values they instilled in us.
Charles L. Drew (1931-2018)
Charles Lane Drew (“Charlie”), 86, the founding name partner of Drew, Eckl & Farnham, passed away on January 6, 2018. Charlie was a pioneer in the area of workers’ compensation law. He blazed a trail across Georgia that achieved an impeccable reputation for legal acumen and high standards of professional conduct. Charlie’s example lives on today in the workers’ compensation section of Drew Eckl & Farnham.
He was admitted to bar in 1954. Charlie received his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree from University of Georgia in 1954. He acted as chairman of Governor’s Legal Advisory Committee on Workmen’s Compensation from 1973 to 1975 and was a member of the State Board of Workmen’s Compensation Legal Advisory Committee from 1976 to 1978. He was a first lieutenant in the Judges Advocate General Corps, Strategic Air Command for the United States Air Force from 1955 to 1957, and a captain in the 116 Fighter Interceptor Group from 1958 to 1964. His practice focused on workers’ compensation law.
W. Wray Eckl – Of Counsel
Wray Eckl is another founding partner of our firm and is retired. Wray centered his practice on civil tort litigation for both self-insureds and insureds. He practiced extensively in all of the federal district courts in the State of Georgia and defended product liability cases on a nationwide basis for corporate clients. He spoke at seminars sponsored by the American Bar Association, Georgia Defense Lawyers Association, Defense Research Institute, Georgia Legal Continuing Education, and others.
He has been in private practice in Atlanta since July 1965. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, attended the University of Vienna, Austria, and graduated from the University of Virginia Law School. He served as a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, U.S. Army. He has been admitted to practice by examination in Virginia, Alabama and Georgia.
Clayton H. Farnham (1938-2020)
Clayton H. Farnham, one of the founding name partners of Drew, Eckl & Farnham, passed away on October 17, 2020. He focused his practice on the representation of property and mortgage insurers in the Southeast and was named among the top thirty insurance attorneys in the United States in The National Law Journal, September 23, 1991, and is listed in Who’s Who in America.
He is a past Member of the Council, the governing board of the American Bar Association’s Tort and Insurance Practice Section, and is past Chairman of the Property Insurance Law Committees of the International Association of Defense Counsel and the American Bar Association. He has been a panelist and lecturer for ABA National Institutes on Arson and Bad Faith, Defense Research Institute, National Forum for Property Loss Professionals, Property Loss Research Bureau, Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, International Association of Defense Counsel and National Society of CPCU.