Richard Barnes is a practicing lawyer, author and regular speaker on business and estate planning. He is the Vice Chair/Chair-Elect of the Fiduciary Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia, a past President of the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers, a past President of the Valdosta Rotary Club, a contributor to South Georgia Business magazine, a member of the Valdosta Bar Association, and a member of the American Bar Association. Richard is an Adjunct Professor at Valdosta State University, teaching a course on Business Associations.

Richard is a graduate of Rhodes College and Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he was the Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He served as General Counsel for the Transmission Networks Systems Division of Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. and practiced law at two Atlanta firms before joining a firm in Valdosta.