Happy New Year Courts Journal Readers,
The 2024 legislative session is underway and has already braved significant rain storms and bitter cold temperatures. You may keep tabs on legislation of significance to Georgia’s judicial branch by using our bill tracker and reading weekly legislative reports at legislation.georgiacourts.gov. The Judicial Council/AOC’s Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2023 has been published and is online here until April 1, 2024, and may also be found in our recently-created archive of Annual Reports. Chief Justice Boggs will deliver his 2024 State of the Judiciary on February 7th at 11:00 a.m. and his speech will be streamed at https://www.gasupreme.us/. The next Judicial Council of Georgia General Session will be held virtually via Zoom and live-streamed on February 9th at 10:00 a.m. at https://www.youtube.com/judicialcouncilofgeorgia. We have updated our “Meet the Members of the Judicial Council page” with Court of Appeals Chief Judge Amanda Mercier.
We are kicking off our Law Day Art Contest earlier this year as we received feedback from social studies teachers that more time would be helpful. Please help spread the word and encourage our state’s student artists to participate in this civics exercise. The theme for Law Day 2024, set by the ABA, is Voices of Democracy. We thank Magistrate Court Judge Todd Ashley and Chief Magistrate Judge Cassandra Kirk who did a great job as volunteer judges for Fulton County School’s Jimmy Carter & Andrew Young Social Studies Tournament held at the Carter Center on January 6th. Congratulations and thank you for your service to Superior Court Judge Ashley Wright who has been appointed to the Georgia Commission on Family Violence. Congratulations as well to Clayton County State Court Judge Tammi L. Hayward who received a “State Court Judge of the Year Award.”
Thank you Judge Norman Cuadra, Chief Judge of the Suwanee Municipal Court, for speaking at our All Staff Meeting. We enjoyed your family’s inspiring immigration story and we are grateful for your service on the Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on Court Interpreters. We also enjoyed interviewing LaShawn Murphy for a staff profile. The 33rd Annual Georgia Bar, Media, and Judiciary Conference will take place at the State Bar Building in Atlanta on Friday, February 23rd and includes a panel discussion on “TV trials” that will feature Superior Court Judge Walmsley. All Georgia judges and their judicial staff are invited to attend that in-person conference free of charge, please contact Noelle Lagueux-Alvarez for more information. The National Judicial College is offering webinars in February and an intensive two-day conference in Chicago in March on presiding over election challenges and disputes. For more information on those judicial education opportunities, please see https://www.judges.org/courses/election-law-for-judges/. We appreciated the media coverage of a recent Cobb County Drug Court graduation and the article about Judge Molly Mcilvaine who is the new Juvenile Court Judge for Glynn County.
Our Judicial Council/AOC staff, CTO Ben Luke, Amber Range, and Kriste Pope reported that the Council of Superior Court Judges Winter Conference was very successful and included a presentation about the work of the Judicial Council’s Standing Committee on Technology, chaired by Judge Stephen Kelley. Hon. Christopher J. McFadden, Hon. Gary E. Jackson and our own Judicial Council/AOC attorney Darron J. Enns’s article: “Introducing the Superior and State Court Appellate Practice Act” was the cover story of the December Georgia Bar Journal. Please consider nominating an attorney specializing in child welfare law for a 2024 Hines Award. Finally, we send condolences to the family for the passing of Judge Coy Temples who served the Conasauga Judicial Circuit for 27 years.
Call on us anytime. Talk to you in February 2024
Your JC/AOC Courts Journal team: Michelle Barclay, Noelle Lagueux-Alvarez, Bruce Shaw, and our contractor, John Ramspott