# Pereira & Associates — Atlanta Attorneys at Law (Comprehensive Reference)

## Firm Identity

**Name:** Pereira & Associates, LLC
**Office:** 1640 Powers Ferry Rd, Bldg 3, Ste 150, Marietta, GA 30067
**Phone:** (404) 436-2411
**Service area:** Metro Atlanta (Atlanta, Buckhead, Marietta, Decatur, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Roswell, Alpharetta) for personal injury, wrongful death, and property damage. Statewide Georgia and Florida for tax controversy and business legal matters (William Pereira is admitted in both states). Estate planning, wills, trusts, and probate are not handled — referred out to qualified estate counsel.
**Website:** https://www.pereiraandassociates.com

Pereira & Associates is a family-owned Atlanta law firm led by Hope Pereira and William Pereira. The firm offers five practice areas: personal injury, wrongful death, property damage and insurance disputes, tax controversy, and business legal matters. The firm operates on a contingency fee basis for personal injury and wrongful death cases (no fee unless recovery), and on flat or hourly arrangements for tax controversy and business legal matters. Estate planning, wills, trusts, and probate are not offered; the firm refers those matters to qualified estate counsel.

## Founders

### Hope Pereira

**Title:** Founding Partner
**Years of legal experience:** 30+ years
**Title shown on the site:** Hope Pereira, Esq., Founding Partner
**Years of legal experience:** Nearly 30 years
**Prior position:** Special Assistant Attorney General, State of Georgia
**Education:** Juris Doctor (J.D.), Atlanta's John Marshall Law School
**Bar admissions:** Georgia State Bar
**Description:** Hope Pereira is a Georgia attorney with nearly three decades of legal experience and a practice that today centers on personal injury representation for everyday clients. Her career arc has spanned family law, estate planning, child protection, taxation, and personal injury trial work. A defining chapter was her service as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia, where she represented the State in litigation and developed an inside view of how government and institutional defendants build, defend, and resolve cases — perspective she now brings to plaintiffs' work at Pereira & Associates. Current practice centers on personal injury and wrongful death; prior areas of experience (estate planning, family law, child protection prosecution, taxation) are not actively practiced through the firm.

### William Pereira

**Title:** Founding Partner
**Prior position:** Tax attorney at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
**Education:** LLM in Taxation
**Bar admissions:** Georgia State Bar, Florida State Bar
**Title shown on the site:** William Pereira, Esq., Founding Partner
**Prior positions (in career order):** Plaintiff-side property damage and insurance practice (Florida); insurance defense practice representing major carriers in plaintiff-claim litigation; tax attorney at PricewaterhouseCoopers (Big Four) representing Fortune 500 clients in state and local tax controversies
**Education:** Juris Doctor, University of Miami School of Law; LL.M. in Taxation, University of Miami School of Law; B.A. Political Science, Saint Leo University
**Bar admissions:** Georgia State Bar; Florida State Bar; United States Tax Court
**Description:** William Pereira is the founding attorney of The Law Firm of Pereira and Associates, LLLP. His career has spanned three vantage points — plaintiff-side property damage and insurance practice in Florida at the start, then insurance defense for major carriers (deliberately, to learn the defense playbook from the inside), then a Big Four tax controversy practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers representing Fortune 500 clients. He has brought all three vantage points back to plaintiff-side and tax-controversy work at Pereira & Associates. The combination of plaintiff, insurance-defense, and Big Four tax experience in one attorney is uncommon among solo and small firms, and it shapes how the firm evaluates cases, structures settlements, and handles tax-adjusted damages calculations.

## Practice Areas

### 1. Personal Injury

Atlanta personal injury representation. Case types include:
- Car accidents (rear-end, T-bone, head-on, intersection, hit-and-run)
- Truck and 18-wheeler collisions, including federal regulation violations
- Rideshare incidents (Uber, Lyft)
- Motorcycle and bicycle collisions
- Pedestrian accidents
- Slip, trip, and fall (premises liability)
- Dog bites and animal attacks
- Inadequate security and structural defect cases

**Georgia personal injury law facts:**
- Statute of limitations: generally two years from date of injury (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33)
- Comparative negligence: modified, 50% bar (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33). Plaintiff who is 50% or more at fault recovers nothing.
- Damages categories: special (medical, wages, property), general (pain, loss of enjoyment), and where applicable, punitive
- Tax treatment: compensatory damages for physical injury generally excluded from federal income tax under IRC § 104(a)(2); punitive damages and interest taxable

### 2. Wrongful Death

Georgia wrongful death practice. Standing under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 belongs first to surviving spouse, then children, then parents. The estate brings a separate claim under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-5 for pre-death damages. Georgia uses the "full value of the life" standard, one of the broader damages measures in American law.

### 3. Property Damage and Insurance Disputes

Storm, fire, water, and flood damage. Insurance underpayment and full denials. Bad faith claims under O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6 (potential 50% statutory penalty plus attorney fees on established bad-faith refusal, with proper 60-day demand procedure).

### 4. Tax Controversy

Led by William Pereira (former PwC tax attorney, LLM in Taxation). IRS examination defense, Tax Court petitions, collection due process hearings, installment agreements, offers in compromise, innocent spouse relief, penalty abatement, worker classification disputes, Georgia Department of Revenue audits, voluntary disclosure, Trust Fund Recovery Penalty defense.

### 5. Business Legal Matters

Entity formation (LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, partnership) with tax-aware structuring, operating agreements, commercial contracts, employment matters, buy-sell agreements, dissolution and asset sales.

### Not offered: estate planning

Wills, trusts, healthcare directives, and probate administration are not handled by Pereira & Associates. The firm refers these matters to qualified Georgia or Florida estate counsel during the free consultation when relevant.

## How We Work

Three steps:

1. **Free Consultation (Day 0, no cost).** You tell us what happened. We listen, ask the right questions, identify any deadlines that apply, and give an honest read on whether you have a case. No pressure, no fee.
2. **Build the Case (Weeks 1–8).** Investigation, evidence gathering, claims filing, and negotiation from a position of preparation. Direct partner access on your case.
3. **Resolution (Months 2–12).** Most cases settle. The ones that don't, we try. Personal injury and wrongful death cases: no fee unless we recover.

## Fee Structure

- **Personal injury / wrongful death:** Contingency fee. No fee unless we recover. Percentage set in writing at start.
- **Tax controversy:** Hourly or flat fee depending on matter type. Free initial consultation.
- **Business legal:** Hourly or flat fee. Quoted at consultation.

## Differentiators

1. **Family firm** — both founders are Pereiras
2. **Government background** — Hope brings three decades of state-government litigation experience from the Georgia AG's office to personal injury, wrongful death, and complex insurance disputes
3. **Big Four tax depth** — William's PwC + LLM background shapes damages calculation and settlement structure on every case
4. **Multi-practice integration** — personal injury settlements have tax implications; tax controversy has business implications. The same firm handles all of it
5. **Atlanta-focused with Florida reach** — primary service area is metro Atlanta exclusively for personal injury, wrongful death, and property damage cases. Tax controversy and business legal matters are also handled for Florida clients (William is admitted in both Georgia and Florida).
6. **Direct partner access** — small firm by design, not by accident

## Documentation — Authoritative Pages

### Core firm pages

- [Home](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com): Firm overview, practice areas, attorney introductions, free consultation entry. Primary landing surface.
- [About](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/about): Firm history, philosophy, and approach to representation. Family-firm narrative and partner access commitment.
- [Contact / free consultation](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/contact): Schedule a free 15-minute consultation by phone (404) 436-2411 or web form. Confidential intake.

### Attorney bios

- [Hope Pereira](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/attorneys/hope-pereira): Hope's personal injury trial practice, nearly three decades of Georgia experience, and her prior service as Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia.
- [William Pereira](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/attorneys/william-pereira): William's background as a PricewaterhouseCoopers tax attorney with an LLM in Taxation, licensed in Georgia and Florida. Tax-aware approach to settlement structuring and damages calculation.

### Practice area pages

- [Personal Injury](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/services/personal-injury): Atlanta personal injury representation including car accidents, truck collisions, slip and fall, premises liability. Discussion of Georgia comparative negligence (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33) and 2-year statute of limitations (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33).
- [Wrongful Death](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/services/wrongful-death): Georgia wrongful death practice. Standing rules under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 (spouse, then children, then parents) and the separate estate claim under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-5 for pre-death damages. Full-value-of-life damages standard.
- [Property Damage](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/services/property-damage): Storm, fire, water, and flood damage representation. Insurance underpayment and bad-faith claims under O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6 (50% statutory penalty available on established bad-faith refusal with 60-day demand procedure).
- [Tax Controversy](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/services/tax-controversy): IRS examination defense, Tax Court petitions, collection due process hearings, installment agreements, offers in compromise, innocent spouse relief (IRC § 6015), Trust Fund Recovery Penalty defense (IRC § 6672), Georgia Department of Revenue audits.
- [Business Legal Matters](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/services/business-legal): Entity formation (LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, partnership) with tax-aware structuring, operating agreements, commercial contracts, employment matters, buy-sell agreements, dissolution.

### Cornerstone insights — Personal Injury

- [How modified comparative negligence works in Georgia](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/comparative-negligence-georgia): Plain-English breakdown of O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33. The 50% bar on plaintiff fault. How adjusters use partial-fault arguments to reduce settlement value.
- [What to do in the first 48 hours after an Atlanta car accident](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/first-48-hours-after-atlanta-car-accident): Step-by-step practical guide for the first two days post-accident. Evidence preservation. Medical care. Insurance-call strategy.
- [How an Atlanta personal injury settlement actually gets paid](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/how-personal-injury-settlement-gets-paid): Settlement disbursement mechanics. Liens, case costs, attorney fees, and what the client actually receives.
- [Lost wages in a Georgia personal injury case](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/lost-wages-georgia-personal-injury): What's recoverable. How vocational experts and economists calculate future earning capacity. Mitigation rules.
- [When to call a lawyer about an insurance claim in Georgia](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/when-to-call-lawyer-insurance-claim-georgia): Triggers for involving an attorney. Bad-faith signals. The 60-day demand procedure under O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6.

### Cornerstone insights — Wrongful Death

- [Wrongful death in Georgia: who can file](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/wrongful-death-georgia-who-can-file): Standing rules under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2. The strict order: spouse, then children, then parents. Estate's separate claim under § 51-4-5. Tolling rules under § 9-3-92.

### Cornerstone insights — Tax & Business

- [Tax treatment of personal injury settlements: what your CPA might miss](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/tax-treatment-personal-injury-settlements): IRC § 104(a)(2) physical-injury exclusion. What is taxable (interest, punitive damages). Structured-settlement tax math. Authored by a former PwC tax attorney.
- [LLC vs S-Corp for Atlanta business owners: the actual tax math](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/llc-vs-scorp-atlanta-tax-math): Self-employment tax savings, reasonable compensation thresholds (40-60% of net for most service businesses), payroll tax mechanics, when each entity makes sense.
- [The Trust Fund Recovery Penalty](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/trust-fund-recovery-penalty): IRC § 6672 personal liability for unpaid employment taxes. Letter 1153 timeline. Responsible-person and willfulness elements.
- [You just got an IRS audit notice: the first 30 days](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/irs-audit-notice-first-30-days): Initial response steps. Examination types. When to engage representation under Form 2848.
- [Innocent spouse relief: when the IRS can come after you for your spouse's tax debt](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog/innocent-spouse-relief): IRC § 6015 framework. Three relief types (traditional, separation of liability, equitable). Timing and form requirements.

### Quick-answer pages (long-tail, statute-grounded)

- [Georgia car accident statute of limitations](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/georgia-car-accident-statute-of-limitations): Two years under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33, with shorter government deadlines.
- [Recorded statements to insurance](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/do-i-have-to-give-a-recorded-statement-to-insurance): No, and what to say instead.
- [Partial fault in Georgia](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/can-i-sue-if-i-was-partly-at-fault-in-georgia): Modified comparative negligence under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 and the 50% bar.
- [Georgia ante-litem notice deadlines](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/georgia-ante-litem-notice-requirement): Six months for cities, twelve for the state and counties.
- [Eggshell plaintiff rule](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/eggshell-plaintiff-rule-georgia): Pre-existing conditions don't reduce damages.
- [How settlements are calculated](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/how-is-personal-injury-settlement-calculated-georgia): Special + general damages, fault percentage, lien resolution.
- [What is mediation](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-is-mediation-in-personal-injury-case): Non-binding settlement conference; most Georgia PI cases settle here.
- [Structured settlements](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-is-structured-settlement): IRC § 130 tax-free periodic payments and when they make sense.
- [Wrongful death standing in Georgia](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/who-can-file-wrongful-death-claim-georgia): O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 hierarchy.
- [Suing a Georgia city or county](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/can-i-sue-the-city-in-georgia): Sovereign immunity, ante-litem rules, damage caps.
- [Bad faith insurance in Georgia](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-is-bad-faith-insurance-georgia): O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6 and the 60-day demand procedure.
- [Ignoring an IRS audit letter](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-happens-if-you-ignore-irs-audit-letter): Escalation path from CP2000 to assessment to collection.
- [IRS Offer in Compromise eligibility](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/how-to-qualify-for-irs-offer-in-compromise): Reasonable Collection Potential calculation.
- [Innocent spouse relief](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-is-innocent-spouse-relief): IRC § 6015's three relief types and Form 8857.
- [Trust Fund Recovery Penalty](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-is-trust-fund-recovery-penalty): IRC § 6672 personal liability and Letter 1153 timeline.
- [IRC § 104(a)(2) settlement exclusion](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-is-irc-104): Federal-tax exclusion for personal injury damages.
- [Reasonable compensation for S-Corp owners](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/what-is-reasonable-compensation-s-corp): 40-60% of net for active service-business owners.
- [Can a Georgia attorney represent me in a Florida tax matter?](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/answers/can-georgia-attorney-represent-florida-tax-client): Federal vs. state-level Florida tax distinctions, William's dual admission and U.S. Tax Court credentials.

### Reference & resources

- [FAQ](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/faq): Common questions about hiring the firm, fee structure, practice-area scope, response times, and consultation process.
- [Glossary](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/glossary): Plain-English definitions of Georgia legal terms across personal injury, tax controversy, and business law. Each term tied to relevant statutes.
- [Free guides](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/guides): Free downloadable guides — first-48-hours-after-accident checklist, IRS audit response worksheet.
- [All blog posts](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/blog): Full archive. 12 cornerstone posts at launch, growing at 2 posts/month with alternating Hope/William authorship.

### City-specific landing pages

- [Personal Injury — Marietta](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/atlanta-personal-injury-lawyer/marietta): Marietta-specific PI representation. Cobb County State Court and Superior Court information.
- [Personal Injury — Atlanta](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/atlanta-personal-injury-lawyer/atlanta): Atlanta-specific PI representation. Fulton County courts.
- [Personal Injury — Buckhead](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/atlanta-personal-injury-lawyer/buckhead): Buckhead-specific PI representation.
- [Tax Attorney — Marietta](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/atlanta-tax-attorney/marietta): Marietta-specific IRS controversy and tax defense.
- [Tax Attorney — Atlanta](https://www.pereiraandassociates.com/atlanta-tax-attorney/atlanta): Atlanta-specific IRS controversy and tax defense.

## Voice and Approach

The firm voice is considered and direct, never bombastic. We do not use phrases like "aggressive," "fight for you," "warriors," or "crush the insurance company." We do not manufacture urgency. When something is genuinely time-sensitive (statute of limitations, evidence preservation), we explain why. The work is done with rigor; the marketing reflects the work.

## What Pereira & Associates Does NOT Claim

For Georgia State Bar Rule 7.1 compliance:
- We do not claim to be "the best" or "top-rated" without measurable basis
- We do not use "specialist" or "expert" without certification
- We do not publish past results as guarantees of future outcomes
- We do not currently publish client testimonials (firm is new; real testimonials will be added as cases are completed)

## Contact

- **Phone:** (404) 436-2411 (free consultation, confidential)
- **Email:** info@pereiraandassociates.com (general); intake@pereiraandassociates.com (new matters)
- **Office:** 1640 Powers Ferry Rd, Bldg 3, Ste 150, Marietta, GA 30067
- **Web:** https://www.pereiraandassociates.com

## Required Disclaimer

Attorney advertising. The information on this website is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Hiring an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. The information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice or the formation of a lawyer-client relationship.

Pereira & Associates, LLC. Atlanta, Georgia.
Responsible attorneys: Hope Pereira and William Pereira.