On Thursday, Feb. 8, Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage will be presented to Retired Justice Robert Benham. There is not a more worthy recipient. I have admired Justice Benham for my entire legal career, spanning 35 years now. I highly recommend you listen to an…
As many of you know, since 2012 when I became President of the State Bar of Georgia and after a dear friend of mine, who was a Past President of the State Bar, killed himself, I made suicide prevention for Georgia Lawyers one of my causes to which I devoted…
Often, when there has been a string of trial victories for the plaintiff, the defense bar overreacts and calls for a wholesale change in our Civil Justice System. This often includes a feigned outrage over plaintiff’s attorneys’ contingency fees, as if how a plaintiff’s attorney is paid for their success…
In what can only be described as a jaw-dropping, scorching opinion, issued on December 20, 2023, the Georgia Supreme Court soundly rebuked the Georgia Attorney General’s Office for lack of integrity in negotiations with the Federal Defender Program regarding when the AG’s office would resume executions of death-sentenced inmates. In…
Ever since I began the Georgia State Bar’s Suicide Prevention Program back in 2012 when I was President of the State Bar of Georgia, I have been advocating for the need for more mental health services provided during an emergency. For longest time, all U.S. citizens have had available to…
I recently had the honor of attending the dedication of the portrait of Justice Harris P. Hines and the portrait’s official installation at the Nathan Deal Judicial Center in the Georgia Supreme Court Courtroom. Justice Hines and I were good friends, and his beautiful wife, Helen Hines, remains my good…
Ellwood Oakley III 1945 – 2022 This past Sunday, after attending our regular Worship Service at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church on the beautiful Emory University Campus, my husband and I journeyed to Buckhead to Peachtree Road United Methodist Church to send off our good, dear friend, Ellwood “Ebb” Oakley.…
I read with great interest a recent report from the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline that showed a reduction in suicides attributable largely to a song by music artist Logic. That song’s title is “1-800-273-8255,” the hotline number for the suicide prevention lifeline. As a result of this song, number…
Oyez, Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of Georgia, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God Bless the State of Georgia and this Honorable Court. May it please the Court. Yesterday, I was honored to…
Having spent several days at home for the Holidays, I was struck (and not in a good way) about how many commercials there are on TV for personal injury lawyers. It is NON-stop. And the same goes for social media, where plaintiff’s lawyer after plaintiff’s lawyer is shown in a…