Governor Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission has recommended candidates to replace Judge Carla Wong McMillian on the Fayette County State Court.

On the JNC’s short list are: Rhonda Kreuziger, owner and senior counsel at the Kreuziger Law Firm, who earned her law degree from John Marshall and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 2002;  Fayette County Chief Magistrate Robert Ruppenthal, who earned his law degree from Georgia State University and was admitted to the bar in 1994; and Fayette County Magistrate Jason Thompson, who earned his law degree from Sanford University’s Cumberland Law School and was admitted to the bar in 2001.

Ruppenthal was a JNC short-listed candidate for a Griffin Circuit Superior Court vacancy in 2010. Thompson previously ran his own firm and was a municipal court judge in Peachtree City. Deal named McMillian to the state Court of Appeals in January.

Governor Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission has forwarded the names of three finalists to fill a vacancy on the Court of Appeals of Georgia. They are, according to the governor’s office: Stephen Goss, a Dougherty County Superior Court judge;  Carla Wong McMillian, a Fayette County State Court judge; and Larry B. Mims, a Tift County State Court judge.

We will have a full story on our website later this afternoon and in our print edition tomorrow.

Governor Nathan Deal has elevated a Forsyth County State Court judge to fill a new seat in the Bell-Forsyth Circuit Superior Court. Deal then filled the state court judge’s seat with another contender for the superior court.

Deal announced Monday that he tapped State Court Judge Philip C. Smith, 57, to the superior court. He then selected Forsyth Solicitor-General Leslie Abernathy, 45, to fill Smith’s seat on the state court.

Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission had put both Smith and Abernathy on the short list for the superior court seat. The vacancy created by Smith’s promotion to the superior court was not advertised and did not go through the usual JNC vetting process, although previous governors have made similar moves.

The State Legislature approved creating the additional superior court seat during the past session, which was suggested by the Judicial Council of Georgia based on case load and population growth in the circuit.

Smith has been a state court judge since 2003. He also is on the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors. He earned his law degree from the University of Georgia and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1979.

Abernathy has been solicitor-general for more than 15 years and is vice chairperson for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia. She earned her law degree from John Marshall Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1991.

Sixteen Georgia Court of Appeals hopefuls will be interviewed by the Governor Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission on Dec. 12.

A JNC subcommittee of co-chairman Randy Evans, DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James and Augusta District Attorney Ashley Wright today pared the list of 33 candidates to 16. The JNC originally received 75 nominations for the seat that will be vacated in January by Judge A. Harris Adams, but 42 withdrew from consideration or did not submit applications to the JNC.

On the JNC’s interview list are:

-Mary Paige Adams, Green & Sapp litigator and member of the JNC;

-Jacqueline Bunn, lawyer with the Georgia Department of Public Safety;

-Antonio DelCampo, plaintiff’s attorney with Harris Penn Lowry DelCampo and a former DeKalb County State Court judge;

-Don P. Geary, DeKalb County chief assistant district attorney;

-Stephen Goss, Doughtery County Superior Court judge;

-Jason T. Harper, Henry County State Court judge;

-Thomas D. Harper, solo practitioner and mediator;

-Leslie Klemperer, former lawyer at Delta Air Lines who is chair of the board of directors of the Georgia Justice Project;

-Hugh Jeff Lanier, government attorney in Lawrenceville;

-Willie J. Lovett, Jr., director of the Fulton County Office of the Child Attorney;

-D. Todd Markle, judge on Fulton County Superior Court, appointed by Deal;

-Carla Wong McMillian, Fayette County State Court judge;

-Larry B. Mims, Tift County State Court judge;

-Kenneth L. Shigley, State Bar of Georgia past president and trial lawyer at Chambers, Aholt & Rickard;

-Kathryn Tanksley, Cobb County State Court judge;

-Charles S. Wynne, Hall County State Court judge.

The appellate appointment will be Deal’s fifth since he took office in January 2011.

Three of the candidates have been on the short list for other appellate seats that Deal filled: Adams (who is not related to A. Harris Adams), Geary and Shigley.

Whoever is appointed is expected to face the voters in 2014.

Georgia has three new judges.

Governor Nathan Deal today tapped Charles Beaudrot Jr., a senior partner in Morris, Manning & Martin’s tax practice, to be the state’s first administrative law judge for the newly created Georgia Tax Tribunal.

Beaudrot earned his law degree from Harvard University and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1976. He has been a frequent speaker on tax issues for groups such as the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accoutnants, the Institute for Continuing Legal Education in Georgia and the Georgia Real Estate Tax Conference, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

The state Legislature approved the independent tribunal, housed under the executive branch, via the passage of House Bill 100 last session. The tribunal will handle taxpayers’ disputes with the state Department of Revenue.

According to HB 100, the tribunal’s administrative law judge is a full-time, statewide position that carries a four-year term.

Deal chose Beaudrot from a short list created by his Judicial Nominating Commission. The others on the list were Saylor Law Firm partner Jullian Fortuna and state Department of Revenue Director of Tax Policy Frank O’Connell.

To fill a newly created judgeship in the Piedmont Circuit Superior Court, Deal chose McLocklin & Murphy managing partner Wayne McLocklin.

McLocklin earned his law degree from the University of Georgia and was admitted to the bar in 1984. He has been active in the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce and the Oconee River Soil and Water Conservation District.

The Legislature approved the new judgeship last session with the passage of Senate Bill 356, which followed the Judicial Council of Georgia’s recommendation to add judges to the Piedmont and Bell-Forsyth Circuit Superior Courts because of case load and population growth. The governor has not yet named a judge to the Bell-Forsyth Circuit, but the JNC has recommended Forsyth County Solicitor-General Leslie Case Abernathy and Forsyth County State Court Chief Judge Philip Smith.

Also on the JNC’s short list for Piedmont was sole practitioner Wanda Barnett.

Deal also named R. Michael Gailey Jr. to fill the seat on Putnam County State Court vacated by the appointment of Enis Trenton Brown III to the Ocmulgee Circuit Superior Court in September.

Gailey is the Putnam County solicitor-general  and a partner at the Gaily Law Firm in Lake Oconee. He also serves as solicitor for the Morgan County Magistrate Court and Eatonton Municipal Court.

Gailey earned his law degree from the John Marshall Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1996.

The JNC did not recommend any other candidates for the Putnam County State Court seat.

After receiving a record 75 nominations for the upcoming Georgia Court of Appeals vacancy, the governor’s Judicial Nominating Commission received applications from fewer than half the nominees.

The JNC said 42 nominees either withdrew from consideration or did not submit applications to the JNC by its Nov. 19 deadline.

JNC co-chairman Randy Evans said a subcommittee including himself, DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James and Augusta District Attorney Ashley Wright, will pare the list of applicants down to “a more manageable” 15 to 20 candidates prior to interviews on Dec. 12.

The appellate appointment will be Governor Nathan Deal’s fifth since he took office in January 2011.

The remaining 33 applicants, according to the JNC, are: Read more »

Because so many lawyers and judges are expected to complete applications for the upcoming Georgia Court of Appeals vacancy, Governor Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission says it will limit how many candidates it will interview.

The JNC plans to whittle the list of 75 nominees down to 15 to 20 top applicants. Nominees have until Nov. 19 to submit their applications to the JNC, and some of the 75 nominees are expected to withdraw from consideration.)

The subcommittee that will select the applicants for interview by the full commission are JNC co-chairman Randy Evans, a partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge who served as Deal’s attorney during his campaign for governor; DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James; and Augusta District Attorney R. Ashley Wright.

The interview list will be circulated in advance of the interview date, which the JNC said will be some time after Dec. 3. Any member of the JNC can request reconsideration of an applicant whose name does not appear on the interview list.

For more information on the vacancy or the 75 nominees, see the Nov. 7 article.

Governor Nathan Deal appointed three new judges today in Cobb, Gwinnett and McIntosh counties.

Cobb State Court Judge Robert Leonard II, who was first appointed to the bench in December 2010, will replace retired Cobb Superior Court Judge George Kreeger. Leonard earned his law degree from the University of Kentucky.

The other candidates suggested by Deal’s Judicial Nominating Committee for the Cobb post were State Court Judge Maria Golick, Juvenile Court Judge Juanita Stedman and Troutman Sanders partner Mark VanderBroek.

Gwinnett County Chief Magistrate Judge George Hutchinson III will fill the Gwinnett Superior Court vacancy created by Judge William “Billy” Ray II’s appointment to the state Court of Appeals this summer. Hutchinson earned his law degree from Emory University.

The JNC’s other short listed candidates for the Gwinnett post were DeKalb County Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin, State Court Judge Randy Rich and Magistrate Robert Walker Jr.

Atlantic Circuit Juvenile Court Judge C. Jean Bolin will replace retiring Judge Dale Jenkins in McIntosh County State Court. Bolin was appointed to the juvenile court in 2006 and is also a partner at Bolin & West-Webster. She earned her law degree from Florida Coastal School of Law.

The other candidate recommended by the JNC for the McIntosh post was solo practitioner Adam Poppell III.

Governor Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission has received 55 nominations so far for the Court of Appeals seat to be vacated in January by Judge A. Harris Adams.

Several of the names have appeared on previous judicial nominee lists. Those that made past appellate shortlists are Macon Superior Court Judge Tilman “Trip” Self III, State Bar of Georgia Past President Kenneth Shigley, Henry County State Court Chief Judge Benjamin Studdard III.

The JNC will accept names through the end of business Nov. 5 and will interview applicants after Dec. 3.

Adams, 64, announced in late August that he will retire effective Jan. 1 after a decade on the appellate court. His term ends at the close of 2016.

This will be Deal’s fifth appellate appointment since he took office in January 2011. Deal appointed to the appeals court Judge Michael Boggs, a Waycross Circuit Superior Court judge, in December 2011 to replace Judge J.D. Smith, who retired. Eighteen candidates interviewed with the JNC for the post, and the commission sent six names to the governor.

This summer Deal tapped Judges William Ray II, a Gwinnett County Superior Court judge, and Elizabeth Branch, a former Bush administration lawyer, to the appeals court. They replaced appeals court Judges Keith Blackwell, whom Deal appointed to
the state Supreme Court in June, and Charles Mikell, who retired for health reasons. The JNC vetted about 40 candidates for those two openings and recommended a combined shortlist of seven candidates.

Nominations may be sent by mail to JNC c/o Dana McGuire, 600 Peachtree St. N.E., Suite 5200, Atlanta, GA 30308-2216; fax to (404) 962-6919; or email to dana.mcguire@troutmansanders.com.

We will post the full list after the deadline. (The list of everyone nominated may include some lawyers whose names were submitted by well-wishers, but the lawyers themselves are not interested in the post.)

The nomination list from the JNC as of 10 a.m. today includes: Read more »

Governor Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission today posted the Court of Appeals vacancy created by the impending resignation of Judge A. Harris Adams.

The commission will accept nominations through Nov. 5.

The JNC indicated it will interview applicants after Dec. 3 and refer a short list to the governor, who will appoint one.

This will be Deal’s fourth Court of Appeals appointment since he took office in January 2011.

Adams, 64, announced in late August that he will retire effective Jan. 1 after a decade on the appellate court. His term ends at the close of 2016.

Adams has been a judge for 27 years and previously was in private practice for 14 years.  Adams’ letter to the governor did not offer any explanation for his plans to step down, however Chief Judge John Ellington told the Daily Report that Adams had experienced recent health problems.

Deal appointed Judge Michael Boggs, a Waycross Circuit Superior Court judge, in December 2011 to replace Judge J.D. Smith, who retired. Deal also appointed Judges William “Billy” Ray II, a Gwinnett County Superior Court judge, and Elizabeth Branch, a former Bush administration lawyer, in July. They to replaced Justice Keith Blackwell, whom Deal appointed to the state Supreme Court, and Judge Charles Mikell, who retired for health reasons.