Georgia’s secretary of state has launched an investigation of a Superior Court judge in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit who was publicly reprimanded by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission in May.

Matt Carrothers, spokesman for Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp, confirmed that the Secretary of State’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating Lookout Mountain Circuit Superior Court Judge Kristina Cook Graham.  Carrothers confirmed the investigation in response to questions from the Daily Report as to whether Graham’s failure since 2005 to maintain an active law license with the State Bar of Georgia could have an impact on the validity of her election to the Superior Court bench. Carrothers declined further comment, saying, “It is an open investigation.”

From 2005 until May 20, Graham was an inactive member of the State Bar. Cliff Brashier, the bar’s executive director, has said that sitting judges in Georgia must maintain an active membership. Graham became an active member in May after the Daily Report asked her about the status of her law license.

Those who maintain inactive standing, according to State Bar rules, are “neither engaged in the practice of law nor holding themselves out as practicing attorneys nor occupying any public or private position in which they may be called upon to give legal advice or counsel or to examine the law or to pass upon the legal effect of any act, document or law.”

Brashier told the Daily Report in May that inactive judges “should not practice law.”

Although the Georgia Supreme Court and the State Bar  regulate the practice of law in Georgia, the secretary of state investigates potential violations of election law.  A manual published by the secretary of state entitled “Qualifications and Disqualifications for Holding State or County Elective Office in Georgia” says that candidates for public office must sign an affidavit stating they are eligible to hold the office they are seeking and that a person seeking to hold any state office must meet certain eligibility requirements. The state constitution mandates that candidates for superior court judge “shall have been admitted to practice law for seven years.”

In May, the state Judicial Qualifications Commission publicly reprimanded Graham – the daughter of renowned Summerville attorney Bobby Lee Cook – at the Chattooga County Courthouse in Summerville for two violations of the state judicial ethics code. That reprimand stemmed form a complaint to the JQC by Vernon M. Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. According to Keenan’s complaint, Graham directed a profanity-laced tirade at state drug crime investigators during which she attacked their credibility and their character.

Keenan’s complaint to the JQC also accused Graham of demeaning and belittling special prosecutors.

Calls to Graham, who is presiding over a trial today, and her attorney, William D. Cunningham, were not immediately returned.

Contributor: R. Robin McDonald in Judges | subscribe to rss |   share