Greetings Courts Journal readers:
Hurricane season has been especially hard on the Alapaha, Brunswick, Waycross, and Augusta Judicial circuits. Hurricane Helene caused extensive loss of water, power, and severe property damage that some judicial emergency orders required weeks of court closure for recovery. At our request, Chief Judge Clay Tomlinson sent us a letter that he had received from the Clerk of Superior and Juvenile Court in Atkinson County, which reported that the roof of the Atkinson County courthouse had been demolished. The State Bar’s SOLACE Committee (the concept for which comes from Louisiana and arose from another devastating storm, Hurricane Katrina) sent supplies for the Augusta legal community. Judge Chase Daughtrey is still regularly posting messages for supply drops as of this writing, almost a month after Helene made landfall. We are thinking of all of you daily as you recover and rebuild. Please reach out to the Administrative Office of the Courts if we can be of any help. Despite the challenges, Court Council conferences, managed by ICJE, went forward in October and by all reports were very successful. Congratulations to Judge Ana Maria Martinez who was awarded the Ogden Doremus-Kent Lawrence Award by her judicial colleagues on the Council of State Court Judges. Congratulations as well to Sean Kean who received the Judge Martha Glaze Award and Judge Render Heard who received the Judge Aaron Cohn Award at the Council of Juvenile Court Judges Fall Conference.
October opened with Governor Kemp issuing a proclamation in honor of former Governor and President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, which was on October 1st. The St. Thomas More Society hosted the annual Red Mass and Awards Luncheon on October 10th to honor those entrusted with the administration of justice and upon all public officials who serve the common good. October 15th closed out Hispanic Heritage Month and we celebrated our Georgia judges on social media. We also wrote an interesting profile of Lynette Jimenez, Senior Staff Attorney for the Georgia State-wide Business Court. Earlier this month, the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association honored Justice Colvin at its annual celebration. Justice Colvin also spoke to students at Mercer Law School about how to make a difference in improving access to justice and on the same evening, we witnessed an impressive level of community support for Middle Georgia Justice’s annual event, led in part by retired Judge Bill Adams. Justice McMillian also recenlty spoke on a legal panel at Mercer Law School.
Chief Justice Michael Boggs called for the establishment of the Judicial Council of Georgia Ad Hoc Committee on Artificial Intelligence and the Courts, which is chaired by Justice Andrew A. Pinson and a partnership with the NCSC. Bell-Forsyth Judicial Circuit recently celebrated a graduation for its PAC–an accountability court program administered by DHS/Division of Child Support Services–with Judge Christopher Willis hosting, Chief Judge Jeffrey Bagley speaking, and a video message from Governor Kemp. AOC staff were very fortunate to attend three moving retirement ceremonies: Troup County Juvenile Court Judge Michael Key; Probate Court Judge Tammy Brown and Court of Appeals Judge M. Yvette Miller. Our Child Support Commission staff traveled to the Conasauga Judicial Circuit recently to provide a CLE. We enjoyed interviewing Probate Court Judge Scott Chastain for our Meet the Members of the Judicial Council webpage. Listen to the Good Judge-ment Podcast Behavioral Incentive Dates ep. 154 and Child Support Updates ep. 155 as well as Judge Dillard on Blvck Law Student Podcast.
Thank you Judge Nora Polk for speaking at our All Staff Meeting this month. The Cobb County Bar Association and Cobb Women of the Bar Section invited the Court of Appeals as part of its Judge Debra Halpern Bernes Memorial Scholarship in Law efforts. Thank you Judge Chimere Chisolm Trimble, among others, for participating in the 16th Annual Classic City Invitational (CCI) mock trial competition held at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta. Juvenile Court Judges of Georgia attended a Court Improvement Initiative meeting. We loved this story from the Southwestern Judicial Circuit about Judge James Sizemore swearing in his twins as they became lawyers at the same time. We mourn the loss of former Fulton Superior Court Judge Thelma Cummings Wyatt Moore and we leave you with an image of the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet which was easily visible in North Georgia a few weeks ago.
Call on us anytime. Talk to you in November.
Your JC/AOC Courts Journal team: Michelle Barclay, Noelle Lagueux-Alvarez, Bruce Shaw, and our contractor, John Ramspott