Brothers Eugene Muse Mitchell (1866-1944) and Gordon Forrest Mitchell (1872-1956) founded what would become the law firm of Mitchell and Mitchell in 1893. They were two of ten siblings born to Russell Crawford Mitchell (1837-1905) and Deborah Margaret Mitchell (1847-1887). Eugene Mitchell graduated from University of Georgia in 1885 and attended University of Georgia Law School. He married Mary Isabel Stephens (1872-1919) and had three children: Russell Mitchell (1894-1894); Alexander “Stephens” Mitchell (1896-1983), who later joined the law firm; and Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), author of Gone With the Wind. Eugene Mitchell served as the President of the Atlanta Board of Education from 1911-1912 and co-founded the Atlanta Historical Society in 1926. Gordon Forrest Mitchell received his Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Georgia in 1891. The Mitchell brothers began their careers in criminal law and later switched to specialize in probate and equity. In the early 20th century Mitchell and Mitchell became a prominent real estate firm in Atlanta.

Stephens Mitchell graduated from University of Georgia and attended Harvard University Law School until April 1917, when he joined the armed forces. After his discharge, in 1919 he completed his Bachelor of Laws degree at the Atlanta Law School and joined Mitchell and Mitchell. In 1935 he started teaching real property law at the Woodrow Wilson College of Law in Atlanta and authored Real Property under the Code of Georgia and the Georgia Decisions. The firm of Mitchell and Mitchell dissolved in 1956. In 1957, the law firm of Stephens Mitchell, Clarke, and Anderson formed, which by 1960 became Mitchell, Clarke, Pate, and Anderson.