Dear Courts Journal Readers:
March 18th was the last day of oral arguments at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center for Chief Justice Michael Boggs, and we were moved by Presiding Justice Nels Peterson’s remarks honoring the Chief’s 25 years of exemplary public service to the State of Georgia. Please take the time to watch this video of those remarks, as we are so lucky to have appellate proceedings live-streamed and archived in Georgia. To that end, thank you to the Supreme Court of Georgia and to the Court of Appeals of Georgia for your modernity and your commitment to that archival effort. It has been a privilege to serve Chief Justice Boggs, and we look forward to serving our new leadership starting on April 1st, especially as we ready for the Judicial Council’s upcoming General Session on April 11th, which also will be live-streamed.
The Supreme Court of Georgia recently traveled to Cartersville, where oral arguements were held at the Booth Western Art Museum. March is Women’s History Month and we asked Georgia’s women judges to send us pictures of themselves as children and they did. We hope you enjoy these collages as much as we enjoyed making them. We caught up on the Good Judge-ment Podcast episodes: 158 Recusal Motions Revisited; 159 Property Division In Domestic Relations Cases; 160 Jury Selection – Good Lawyer-ing Series and 161 Bench Trials in Criminal Cases. The Georgia Council of Court Administrators also has 14 podcasts on a variety of interesting topics geared toward court administration issues. We loved interviewing Judge David Will, Council of Municipal Court Judges President, and President-Elect Judge Robert Cowan for our Meet the Members of the Judicial Council of Georgia page. Please read this detailed article by Chief Municipal Court Judge Margaret Washburn on Marion T. Pope Inn of Court Meeting/CLE titled: The History of the Inns of Court, Advocacy and Professionalism, which includes pictures of Georgia judges in bench wigs. The fourth and fifth district Municipal Court Judges met at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center. Attendees received a judicial security update from Justice Shawn LaGrua, chair, Judicial Council Committee on Judicial Security and Stan Cooper, Director of Protective Services for the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
Congratulations to: Judge Sara Doyle, who was awarded the 2025 Meritorious Service Award, and to Senior Judge Samuel Ozburn, who was awarded the 2025 Outstanding Alumnus Award, from Mercer University School of Law; and to State Court Judges Jason Thompson and Stephen Knights for your community service and engagement. Cobb County held another successful Mental Health Court graduation. The Judicial Council/AOC staffed multiple committee meetings this month, including Justice for Children, Judicial Workload Assessment, Court Interpreters, and Technology. In addition, staff of the Access to Justice Committee met with GSU law students about their Alternative to Spring Break projects.
We read with interest Judge Mike Jacobs’s post about Leadership DeKalb’s Government Day. We look forward to serving the new judicial appointments in the Mountain Judicial Circuit: Judge B. Nichole Carswell and Judge Carlton Hobie Jones III; and Chief Judge Graham McKinnon and Judge Margaret Washburn, who were sworn in as the presiding judges of the Municipal Court in the newly created City of Mulberry. We enjoyed learning about Civics Break–a non-partisan, online course about the role of the judiciary in the United States intended for use in the workplace and by community groups sponsored by Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law. Our own Law Day Art Contest is closing on April 1st and we look forward to reviewing the student submissions. We applaud all our Georgia judges who judged mock trial competitions this month. The Georgia Council of Court Administrators held a successful conference this month with former Chief Justice Harold Melton giving the opening keynote address and our own Judicial Council/AOC staffer, Paula Myrick, who hosted a wellness session in addition to serving as MC. Finally, we leave you with some amazing footage of the lightning that hit Atlanta during the wild storms on March 15th.
Call on us anytime. Talk to you in April
Your JC/AOC Courts Journal team: Michelle Barclay, Noelle Lagueux-Alvarez, Bruce Shaw, and our contractor, John Ramspott