Americus NAACP leaders attend Willie Gary’s party during NBA week

 

By Aisha I. Jefferson, Staff Reporter

 

THE NEXT TIME plaintiffs’ lawyer Willie E. Gary has a party in Atlanta, here’s some advice: Come early and bring a camera because there’s no telling who may be on his VIP list.

 

So many people turned out at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center for Gary’s bash last Wednesday that by its scheduled 9 p.m. start time there was a line two-hours long to get in.

 

Hotel staffers extended the party to the hall outside the ballroom, giving latecomers access to their choice of drinks and food (from Cajun crusted baron of beef and coconut shrimp with Creole orange marmalade to crispy chicken tenders), all on Gary’s tab. Inside the ballroom, Frankie Beverly and Maze provided the entertainment.

 

Mathis and Linda Wright and Dr. John Marshall attended the Gary bash. “Frankie Beverly and Maze is a group that is of our generation,” Marshall said. Linda Wright said she was excited to be in the V.I.P. section. Mathis said he was glad he went.

The party was one of the social events scheduled as part of the week-long annual National Bar Association convention that concluded Saturday. Gary throws the party every two years as part of the convention’s event lineup and said Wednesday’s blowout helped him raise money for needy children.

Gary, whose firm Web site unabashedly offers details about his two Rolls Royce cars and his custom-designed Boeing 737, the Wings of Justice II, said it cost him nearly $1 million to stage the Atlanta event. “Atlanta’s going to have to build a bigger ballroom if they want my party,” Gary said, explaining that he sent out 400,000 invites to his clients and friends. Although Fulton County sheriff’s deputies and the Atlanta Police were on hand for crowd control, there didn’t appear to be a formal invitation check, making it easy for anyone dressed in a suit or cocktail dress to walk in off the street.

Guests included Evander Holyfield and former slugger Cecil Fielder, both business partners of Gary; and dozens of judges and public officials.

While this was the first party Gary, who heads Stuart, Fla.-based Gary, Williams, Parenti, Finney, Lewis, McManus, Watson, & Sperando, threw in Atlanta, he said “it won’t be the last.”