About Verna Gates

The 24-hour Rule

There's a simple mantra behind Sam Franklin's calm exterior: the 24-hour rule. If the heat rises to boil, you forget it for 24 hours and let the emotions cool to room temperature. "If it's real bad, you make it a 48-hour rule," jokes Don Thornton, former general counsel for Vesta Insurance, a client. "The temptation is to pick up a phone and fire back. Sam will never do that." In the high-stakes world of corporate defense, Franklin and his Birmingham firm Lightfoot Franklin & White …