Tyus Butler is an attorney, retiring July 1st, 2024, following 50 years of practice with the Savannah law firm of Bouhan Falligant LLP, f/k/a Bouhan, Williams & Levy LLP. His practice was primarily in the field of Labor & Employment Law, having also practiced significantly in the areas of Immigration, Public Transit Law (General Counsel to the Chatham Area Transit Authority and its predecessors for 50 years), Public Education Law (Counsel to the Savannah-Chatham Board of Public Education & School District), Intellectual Property, Real Property, Bankruptcy, and Litigation. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he earned an AB degree in Economics, with concentration in Labor Economics, in 1970. He received his Juris Doctor (JD) degree, cum laude, from the Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University in 1974. He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, admitted and licensed to practice before the bars of all Georgia Superior and inferior Courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
He was a member of the Labor and Employment Law and Bankruptcy Law Sections of the State Bar of Georgia, and served as a designated Management member of the American Bar Association's Labor & Employment Law Section, and on that Section's Committees on Practice & Procedure under the National Labor Relations Act, and Regional Practice. He also was a member of the Federal Bar Association's Labor Law & Relations Section, and that Section's Committees on Labor Arbitration, Equal Employment Opportunity, and Collective Bargaining. In addition, he was a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the American Public Transportation Association, American Employment Law Council, Georgia Employment Law Center, Industrial Relations Research Association, and Savannah Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management. Mr Butler has served on the Boards of the American Red Cross, Savannah Chapter, and ARC Blood Services, Savannah/SE Georgia Region; the Board of Trustees of The Ossabaw Island Foundation, including as Chairman; the Standing Committees and Boards of Directors of The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Georgia (including as President) and General (national) Society of the Cincinnati, an unincorporated association, and The Society of the Cincinnati, Inc. (a DC nonprofit corporation), for which he has served as appointed Counsel for 14 years, now Counsel Emeritus; and is a Trustee for Life of the A. H. Fowlkes Trust. He is now Vestryman Emeritus & Chancellor Emeritus of St John’s Church (Episcopal), Savannah, having served on the Vestry and as Chancellor for over 30 years.
Mr Butler was an Incorporator, founding Chancellor, and founding member of the Board of Governors of Ralston College. He has been a member of the Board of Governors since 2010 and serves as its Secretary.