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| Charles M. Hosch |
Hosch was last seen on a hike on the Byron Herbert Reece Trail near Blood Mountain in Union County, Georgia.
Hosch and Kathryne "Kate" M. Morris founded Hosch & Morris in 2019. Hosch practiced law at Strasburger & Price for nearly 36 years before co-founding the boutique. Strasburger & Price, which had nearly 200 lawyers, merged with Clark Hill in 2018.
Morris told Law360 Pulse in an email on Tuesday that people can help by sharing Hosch's story.
"We have been told that keeping awareness high is critical to our efforts," Morris said.
Morris asked anyone who was on Blood Mountain or the Byron Herbert Reece Trail on Nov. 11, or has trail camera footage from that area and time, to reach out to the Union County Emergency Operations Center at 706-439-6091.
"Even if they didn't see Charles, time-stamped photos or videos help us understand the timeline," Morris said.
Morris said they have started a website dedicated to seeking information about Hosch: https://www.bringcharleshome.com.
His daughter, Julia Hosch Singh, told Law360 Pulse last week that her father was in Georgia as he and his brother, Heyward C. Hosch III, handled matters related to their father's death last year. Her father grew up in nearby Gainesville, Georgia, where his family has lived for seven generations.
Hosch Singh told Law360 Pulse on Tuesday that law enforcement has told her that they will follow up on credible information about her father.
"It's the holidays, there will be a lot of hikers up on this mountain and if anybody finds anything that seems credible, they will immediately follow up on it as soon as possible," Hosch Singh said. "So the case doesn't close."
Hosch Singh said they continue to seek information about the trail on Veterans Day.
"There are bound to be more people that were hiking that day than have reached out to us," she said. "We're still looking for those folks, because every time stamp that we can have of sightings of Dad that day or conversations with Dad that day get us closer to figuring out the area that he might be now."
Union County Sheriff Shawn Dyer told Law360 Pulse on Tuesday that the search efforts have included local, state and federal resources as well as resources from neighboring states.
"The majority of the search areas have been searched with resources including aircraft, drones, dogs and ground searchers," Dyer said. "We're extremely grateful for all the assistance that we received in the search and from all those who offered assistance. We're grateful for the support from everyone during this stressful and difficult event."
Dyer said that they will resume the search when they receive new information.
"We have had approximately 300 searchers on the ground," Dyer said. "I think the total mileage of miles walked of the searchers that have been on that mountain the last 12 days will probably be close to the 2,000-mile mark."
Dyer said they're looking for any information that can help them locate Hosch.
"I hope people can understand that we're trying everything we got," Dyer said. "We tried really hard on this and will continue to try. It's not a closed case by any means."
Hosch is an adjunct faculty member at Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law. The firm published his benediction notes for 2025 on Saturday, capturing how he tells his law students to have courage and live up to the ideals of the profession.
"For over 30 years, he has closed each semester by reminding his students that success isn't found in titles or business cards, but in doing work that means something — work that serves others," Morris said. "He tells them not to look at him, but to look where he is looking: toward a life of purpose and service. In these unbearably difficult days, his words guide us just as they've guided generations of students."
Morris said they shared the benediction, "because those words are Charles in his purest form."
"The benediction is also a statement of moral clarity — a profound affirmation of the rule of law and a gentle but unwavering reminder that those who take an oath to the Constitution bear a sacred responsibility to honor it," Morris said.
Morris said Hosch teaches law because he is a teacher at his core.
"Service to others is paramount in his life — as a Sunday school teacher at University Park United Methodist Church, as a mentor to Eagle Scouts, as a professor who takes every student to lunch to truly understand their story, as a steadfast law partner and friend, and as a devoted father and a doting grandfather," Morris said. "He is a true north and moral compass to so many people. The law, for Charles, has always been a means of serving others, and he lives that belief in every mentorship, every class, every conversation."
Hosch Singh said that while her father's benediction notes speak directly to future lawyers, "it's for everybody." She added that she thinks her father would be honored that it was published and reached so many people.
"His law partner, who is one of his best friends and closest confidants, Kate, also felt really strongly that we should publish it and so Kate actually was the one who ensured that we do that in collaboration with my mom," Hosch Singh said. "They decided that this really needed to be something that is shared, not just for other future lawyers, but for everyone, because we all have a second year of law school in our lives, a challenging time, a time that we need to make decisions, a time that we need to grow up. It's not just for lawyers, it's for everyone."
Hosch Singh said the family is taking time to regroup after feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. She said she's grateful to Union County Fire Chief R. David Dyer and the search and rescue efforts.
"The search and rescue team has been working for nearly two weeks, basically nonstop, and we have been so grateful to the Union County team that they have pulled in hundreds of trained search and rescue professionals," Hosch Singh said. "We ran into the chief of the fire department hiking on his day off, looking for my Dad himself."
Hosch Singh said someone from a nonprofit told her searches for missing hikers may typically end after about a week.
"So to have two full weeks with the resources that we've had is something that we'll always be grateful for," Hosch Singh said. "Those daily operations will have ended, now that we've had a few days of just no reasonable hypotheses of where he could be that has not already been searched. That said, we still don't have Dad's location, which is what we're really hoping to find, if at all possible."
Hosch Singh said she encourages others to be safe while hiking.
"I know we're about to get into some beautiful fall leaves up here," she said. "Just a reminder to everybody, literally and metaphorically, don't hike alone. Reach out to your people."
Hosch Singh also asked for people to be kind, especially as the holidays can be a hectic time.
"I think those are two things that as we're thinking about this next stage of the search, we are keeping in mind," Hosch Singh said. "Even those who are following along from home can do both of those things too."
Anyone with information about Charles Hosch is urged to contact the Union County Fire Department at 706-439-6095, or the county sheriff's office at 706-439-6066.
--Editing by Robert Rudinger.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
