Atlanta’s records handling was reported in 2018, while Jeremy T. Berry was City Attorney there. In 2026 he was Brookhaven’s City Attorney, and he wrote to me about records fees. Two separate records, both sourced here.
Jeremy T. Berry is the City Attorney for the City of Brookhaven, Georgia. Brookhaven announced his hiring in March 2023. Before that he was City Attorney for Atlanta, starting in April 2017, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on how Atlanta supplied public records during his time there. In 2026 he wrote to me about Brookhaven’s records fees.
Part 1 of 2 · Part 2
At a glance, as of October 17, 2026
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Who is Jeremy T. Berry? | City Attorney of Brookhaven, Georgia, hired March 2023. | Rough Draft Atlanta, March 15, 2023 |
| Where was he before? | Atlanta City Attorney from April 2017. His departure was announced in late April 2018. | AJC, March 9, 2018 · Daily Report, May 1, 2018 |
| What did the press report? | The AJC and WSB-TV reported on how Atlanta supplied records during his tenure, and on April 11, 2018 they asked Georgia’s Attorney General to mediate one complaint about Atlanta City Hall. | AJC, April 11, 2018 |
| Was Berry charged? | No charge against Berry appears in the reporting checked here or in the Attorney General’s February 11, 2019 release, which names a different former Atlanta employee. A lawyer retained by Atlanta said Berry had done nothing wrong. | Georgia Attorney General, February 11, 2019 |
What the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in 2018
No charge against Berry in the reporting checked here. The reporting about Atlanta’s 2018 records inquiry identifies no criminal charge against Jeremy T. Berry. A lawyer retained by Atlanta defended him, and Berry said the city complied with the law. That belongs here, before the criticism, not in a footnote.
March 9, 2018: the invoices. The AJC reported that what it received in response to a request for legal billing records, covering about $1.4 million in outside legal work, were compilations of time entries rather than the invoices it had asked for. The report attributed certain underlying accounting decisions to Atlanta officials generally, not to Berry specifically. Stephen Deere and Dan Klepal, AJC, March 9, 2018
The criticism came from named people. In that article, Georgia State University law and ethics professor Clark Cunningham said of the documents, “I would say these appear to be felonies.” Duke Law legal ethics director Kathryn Webb Bradley called the practice described to her “flat-out unethical.” Those are named experts giving opinions about described conduct. They are not charges, court findings, or State Bar decisions.
Berry’s answer. Berry said the billing arrangement predated his appointment, denied that any entry was changed, and wrote: “No time entry was altered in any way.” He also said, “The City of Atlanta has complied with both the letter and the spirit of the Open Records Act.” Berry’s published response, AJC, March 9, 2018
The lawyer Atlanta hired. Robert Highsmith of Holland & Knight, retained by the City, said Berry had “done absolutely nothing wrong” in complying with records requests. That was the position of counsel Atlanta was paying, not a court ruling. WSB-TV later reported that the firm said its review cleared Berry and another official; the firm had not released the report at the time. AJC, April 25, 2018 · WSB-TV, April 26, 2018
The inquiry, and whose complaint it was. The AJC reported that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation expanded an inquiry into Atlanta City Hall’s records handling and interviewed two AJC reporters about their interactions with Berry. On April 11, 2018, the AJC and WSB-TV together filed one complaint asking the Attorney General to mediate. It was about Atlanta City Hall, it described a problem beginning in July 2016, before Berry took office, and it was not a complaint against Berry personally. AJC, March 16, 2018 · AJC, April 11, 2018
The Atlanta timeline
| Date | What the source shows |
|---|---|
| April 2017 | Jeremy T. Berry became Atlanta City Attorney. AJC |
| November 3, 2017 | A cover letter with the legal billing material described what was supplied as invoices, the AJC reported. AJC |
| March 9, 2018 | The AJC published its report, the criticism, and Berry’s answer. AJC |
| March 16, 2018 | The AJC described an expanded GBI inquiry. AJC |
| April 11, 2018 | The AJC and WSB-TV filed one complaint asking the Attorney General to mediate. AJC |
| Late April 2018 | Berry’s departure as Atlanta City Attorney was announced. Daily Report |
| February 11, 2019 | Georgia’s Attorney General cited a different former Atlanta employee. The release does not name Berry. Release |
Brookhaven in 2026: what its City Attorney wrote to me
Brookhaven hired Berry in 2023. In 2026 I asked the City for records and tried to use its disability grievance route. These are his dated words and the City’s dated acts. What my grievances said is not on this page.
| Date | What happened | Read it |
|---|---|---|
| February 11, 2026 | Berry wrote that Brookhaven would “insist on prepayment of the costs prior to beginning search, retrieval, review, or production of the records,” quoting the state law, across 29 of my requests. | His emails, dated |
| February 12, 2026 | I paid $356.54. | The emails and letters |
| February 26, 2026 | An ADA grievance reached the City. About 48 minutes later, City Manager Christian Sigman sent it to Linda Warren, copying Berry. | Christian Sigman’s record |
| March 2, 2026 | Berry wrote that I was welcome to keep filing, and offered a conversation. | His emails, dated |
What he offered on March 2.
You are, of course, welcome to keep filing and submitting everything you are filing and submitting to the City and others. I just thought some sort of conversation or dialogue might be productive if you are inclined.
Jeremy T. Berry, City Attorney of Brookhaven, March 2, 2026, 4:07 PM Eastern.
I had written for records and for an answer to an ADA grievance.
Part 1 of 2 · Part 2
Corrections
ADA Matters welcomes documented corrections. Write to info@adamatters.com with the page, the sentence, and the dated source.
Read the originals: AJC, March 9, 2018 · AJC, March 16, 2018 · AJC, April 11, 2018 · WSB-TV, April 26, 2018 · Georgia Attorney General, February 11, 2019
Read the emails and letters: Jeremy T. Berry · City of Brookhaven and BPD · What Is ADA Title II? · The Receipts
Do You Have an ADA Complaint About Jeremy T. Berry and the City of Brookhaven?
- File a federal ADA complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice: File a DOJ complaint here.
- Tell the State of Georgia ADA Coordinator’s Office: File a State ADA complaint here.
Please note: the State ADA Coordinator’s Office tracks complaints but does not have enforcement powers. In its own words: “Our office is not an enforcement agency.” (State ADA Coordinator’s Office FAQ)
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