Articles Posted in Public Service

SupCtBench-240x300IMG_5344-225x300IMG_5346-225x300IMG_6736-225x300
Who Will Be Democracy’s Heroes? Who Will Save the Rule of Law? Trial Judges? Lawyers? Citizens?

We are in a Constitutional Crisis. The current Administration has no respect for the Rule of Law and takes actions on a daily basis that are specifically directed to undermine our American Democracy. Even the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, a lawyer, who once upon a time (supposedly) swore to uphold the Constitution, engages in absolute lawlessness, blatantly ignoring Court Orders,  which is not only undermining our Democracy but is eroding it daily. As a lawyer who took the same oath, what I am seeing on a daily basis is disheartening, frightening, shocking and scary. Every day I ask: What can we do to stop it?  I also have found myself asking: Who will be the Heroes?  Who will be the Heroes of Democracy who will, in the end, be the ones who can honestly say their actions saved our Country?  Will it be the judges?  Will it be lawyers?  Will it be ordinary citizens?

Trial Judges-

IMG_4091-225x300 IMG_4099-225x300
I was so proud to nominate my client, Jerrod Heath, for the GTLA 2025 Courageous Pursuit of Justice Award and so overjoyed when it was announced he had won! Out of the many deserving people who courageously pursue Justice on behalf of their loved ones here in Georgia, it was an honor of a lifetime for Jerrod (rightfully) to receive this award.  Here is a little bit more about this award:

GTLA COURAGEOUS PURSUIT OF JUSTICE AWARD (aka Nestlehutt Award)

GTLA presents this award to the client of a GTLA member during the Annual Convention each year. Our goal is to recognize a client whose pursuit of justice helped the greater good. It’s not about the size of the verdict, or even a victory. It’s about courage the client showed against great odds and powerful opponents.

2025-IATL-Inductee-16-Clark-1-1-300x200

Evoto

Robin Frazer Clark Inducted as Fellow of International Academy of Trial Lawyers

Robin Frazer Clark was inducted as a Fellow into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers at the organization’s 2025 Mid-Year Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 23-27.

IMG_20241213_155816-135x300 IMG_20241213_164451-135x300
I received a wonderful email over the holidays from Terass “Razz” Misher letting me know he had graduated from law school. The subject line of the email simply read “I graduated.” I was thrilled to read his email and so happy for him and his lovely family.20241213_164327-225x300

I first met Razz back in April 2020 when we started the podcast “See You In Court,” which is sponsored by the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation. Razz was our very first producer of the podcast and he did a wonderful job. I learned a lot about podcasts from Razz, from what type of microphone I should use to elimination of ambient noise in the room. I was introduced to Razz by my good friends Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey, host of the incredible “The Great Trials Podcast.” BTW, I happened to be a guest on “The Great Trials Podcast” in October 2020 discussing my plaintiff’s $2.35 Million verdict in Fox v. Emory University Hospital. You should check it out! Anyway, they were using Razz for their podcast and suggested I hire him as well. Which I immediately did and it was a great decision. During the next few years, Razz and I spoke many times about a life in law and particularly pro bono efforts. Razz seemed to become more and more interested in what we did as lawyers and the types of cases we handled the clients we served. He started having a thought in the back of his mind that maybe being a lawyer would be right for him.  Steve and Yvonne even did an entire episode entitled “Should Razz Go To Law School?”  The answer seemed to be a resounding “yes!” Then, one day, he announces to us that we will need to find a new producer because he is going to law school! Wow! Razz said that working with lawyers and listening to stories about lawyers helping others inspired him to consider a life in the law, also, and he decided to take the leap for himself and his family. Razz hooked us up with our current producer, Phillip Hoover, leaving us in Phillip’s capable hands.  I was honored to be asked to write Razz a recommendation letter for law school and I proudly did. The next thing I know, Razz is headed to Elon School of Law in North Carolina. Three short years later Razz has graduated.  Not only that, he was also inducted into the Order of the Barristers at Elon, which is for only the absolutely top law students at that law school. The photos show Razz with his beautiful family.

I have often encouraged young folks to consider a life in the law. For me, the number one consideration was it was a profession that would allow me to be completely independent, without being beholden to any other person for support. This was my father’s requirement, i.e., that no matter what I do I must be independent. Being a lawyer certainly does that. Although my father was a pharmacist who owned his own drugstore in a small town, Sturgis, Kentucky, he told me being a lawyer would be wonderful for me because once you got your law license, no one could never take that away from you. No matter what may happen, you could always hang out your shingle like a true entrepreneur and make your own way on your brain and your work ethic, and then if you were successful, it was because of your hard work, and if you weren’t, you had only yourself to blame.  Plus, lawyers can use their license to effect change in society…real change. No one else in our legal system can serve a subpoena on another citizen and force that citizen to testify, and in a civil case, to testify even against their own interests. Only with a law license could I have obtained a Presidential Pardon from President Obama for my client who was convicted of being gay (which is obviously NOT A CRIME!) while he was serving his Country in the United States Army and who was imprisoned for two years in Ft. Leavenworth Prison. So, there is a lot to be said about being a lawyer, having a life of service to others and devoting your life to the Rule of Law. As my letterhead reads:

Robert Benham and his 1984 appointment with Georgia history
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 interview of Justice Benham by University of Georgia Professor Paul Kurtz on Youtube. It is fascinating.

Back in 2013, when I was President of the State Bar of Georgia, I had the distinct honor of giving remarks at the 14th Annual Justice Robert Benham Awards for Community Service.  That’s right. The State Bar of Georgia Community Service Awards are aptly named in honor of Justice Benham. In light of Georgia Tech’s wonderful announcement that he will be receiving its Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage, I wanted to share again my remarks from that special day in 2013.

 Remarks of President Robin Frazer Clark at the 2013 Justice Robert Benham Community Service Awards                                                                                         

IMG_63811-225x300IMG_6387-225x300IMG_6379-225x300
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 my time and resources to promote. We began with “How to Save a Life,” a suicide prevention program for the Georgia State Bar, which, almost immediately, began saving lives. We reduced the stigma associated with seeking help for mental health matters, especially for lawyers. We increased the number of free mental health visits each Georgia Lawyer receives to six and with the “Use Your Six” campaign.   The State Bar created the “Lawyers Living Well” program, thanks largely to the leadership of Lynn Garson, the Chairperson of the Lawyers Assistance Program. Lynn began her “Lawyers Living Well” podcast, through which she and many other wonderful Georgia Lawyers share their stories, including me.  I hope you will listen. The Georgia State Bar’s Suicide Prevention Program continues under the extremely capable leadership of Judge Shondeana Morris, and many of us participated in the “Out of the Darkness” walk in Piedmont Park to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). I am so proud of the work the State Bar of Georgia has done, and continues to do, to reduce the suicide of Georgia Lawyers and their family members.

As part of this large effort, we have learned a lot. One thing we learned is the concept of “means restriction,” which is to eliminate the means by which someone could kill themselves when you know or suspect that person to be suicidal. This includes guns, drugs, ropes, alcohol, etc. It is important to remove any means of suicide from the surroundings of someone you believe is suicidal. Research has shown that if the means to kill oneself are eliminated and you prevent even that momentary thought of suicide, that person is not likely to resort to suicide again once the idea of it is gone and the means to do it were eliminated. As published in the medical journal Lancet, “[l]imitation of access to lethal methods used for suicide—so-called means restriction—is an important population strategy for suicide prevention. Many empirical studies have shown that such means restriction is effective. Although some individuals might seek other methods, many do not; when they do, the means chosen are less lethal and are associated with fewer deaths than when more dangerous ones are available.”

So I was thrilled to read that the long-awaited means restriction of nets under the Golden Gate Bridge have finally been installed.   The effort was sparked over 20 years ago when a young man, Kevin Hines, jumped off the bridge to kill himself, but he survived. He said the second he jumped he regretted it. He said: “Had the net been there, I would have been stopped by the police and gotten the help I needed immediately and never broken my back, never shattered three vertebrae, and never been on this path I was on,” said Hines, now a suicide prevention advocate. “I’m so grateful that a small group of like-minded people never gave up on something so important.” There are other examples of means restrictions, right here in Atlanta. You may recall that I wrote about a project my son, Chastain B. Clark, collaborated on, designed, created and installed at the Georgia Tech Library called “Crosland Chroma,” which is a series of beautiful screens that allow a scenic view of the city but prevent anyone from being able to jump off the library. This photos shows the beautiful means restriction on top of the Tech Library.

https://www.atlantainjurylawyerblog.com/files/2022/11/2022-10-20-12.53.31-225x300.jpg https://www.atlantainjurylawyerblog.com/files/2022/11/2022-10-14-09.24.26-225x300.jpghttps://www.atlantainjurylawyerblog.com/files/2022/11/2022-10-20-15.30.10-225x300.jpghttps://www.atlantainjurylawyerblog.com/files/2022/11/2022-10-20-15.29.59-225x300.jpg
Thomas Roe Frazer lived a life of servanthood his entire life. Born on May 20, 1936, in Marion, Kentucky, Tom died peacefully in his sleep on October 14, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee. Tom Frazer lived most of his life in Sturgis, Kentucky, as the owner of and registered pharmacist at the Sturgis Pharmacy starting in 1963. He was a pillar of Sturgis and the greater Union County community for 60 years. He is survived by his children Thomas Roe Frazer II (Sandy) of Nashville, Joseph Atchison Frazer (Katherine) of Miami, Florida, and Robin Frazer Clark (Bill) of Atlanta, Georgia, as well as seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his dear wife of 63 years, Patricia Teasley Frazer.

Tom Frazer lived a wonderful life. He loved his Church, Sturgis UMC, his wife, his children, his work, and his recreation. He served in the Church his entire life, and always put others ahead of himself, practicing the Golden Rule in his daily life. He was a friend to many, some who knew him as their trusted pharmacist, many who knew his golden heart, and all who knew his love for life and the lives of others. For the few who knew him as Daddy or Papa, he was the best earthly father and grandfather ever. While Tom’s lifetime accomplishments were many, he cherished his family the most.

Tom grew up in a drugstore, City Drug Co. in Marion, Kentucky, the son of pharmacist Ted Frazer, Sr. and Melba “Babe” Frazer. His home was a five-minute walk away from his father’s drugstore. His Church, Marion United Methodist, was in his backyard, and his schoolhouse just across the street. He was an athlete, starring in football and baseball, even playing semi-pro baseball as a teenage catcher for the Fredonia Red Hots. He loved basketball enough to become the youngest (while still a teen) certified basketball official in the state of Kentucky. He was also a top referee for 30-plus years for Kentucky high school football, officiating in the state championship games in Louisville. As a boy, he loved to hunt quail and duck in the beautiful woods of Crittenden County, and fish at Kentucky Lake. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Atchison Frazer, was the doctor in town, and his maternal grandfather, William Roe Williams, taught him about life as a farmer.

Ellwood Oakley III
1945 – 2022
0000732084-01_0_0000732084-01-1_20220205IMG_78321-225x300
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. Ebb was in the Navy during the Viet Nam War and, among other awards, had been awarded the Bronze Star and the National Defense Service Medal. His funeral was a military funeral, with the playing of “Taps,” “America the Beautiful,” and “Eternal Father,” the Navy Hymn. Our good friend, Timothy Miller, who sings “God Bless America” before Braves games on Sundays, led us all in “God Bless America” at Ebb’s funeral. To say this funeral was moving would be an complete understatement. It was a send-off appropriate for a great man like Ebb.

Friends:

Today I am proud to present to you a tribute to Congressman John Lewis written by my summer law clerk, Austin Weatherly.  Austin will begin his law school journey next month as a 1L at University of Georgia School of Law. He did his undergraduate work at New York University and then spent the last few years working at Turner Broadcasting. It has been our pleasure having Austin with us this summer, sometimes in person at the office and sometimes virtually via Zoom.  I have known Austin and his family most of his life and he has proven himself to be an outstanding young man, a kind and caring person who treats others as he would have them treat him.  This will serve him well as a Georgia Lawyer. We know Austin is going to do great things at UGA Law and later in the practice of law. We will look forward to following his career. Now, enjoy his tribute honoring Congressman John Lewis.


Thomas-Weatherly-2-e1595541262175-269x300

My name is Austin Weatherly, and I am currently serving as Robin’s law clerk. I was born into the congressional care of John Lewis. Until his passing, he had been my congressman my entire life. To me and my family he served as an example of the hard work required by a true patriot. Lewis exhibited a brand of patriotism rooted in realizing the potential and promise of America. He dreamed of a nation framed by the constitution, and built on freedom and equality. In an effort to honor John Lewis I have prepared this brief remembrance. 

juryboxdrawing
A neat thing happened last week in DeKalb County State Court as I was striking a jury. I’m not sure if anyone else noticed it or appreciated it, but I certainly did. The judge had called in 60 potential jurors to go through “voir dire,” or jury selection, in my case. DeKalb jurors are some of the most diverse citizens of any county in Georgia, and that wonderful diversity was in full display during jury selection. What really caught my attention was there was an interpreter for one of the jurors. This juror could not speak English, at least not fluently enough to be able to understand detailed questions about her thoughts and feelings about money damages in civil cases, medical malpractice cases in particular.

It was apparently arranged in advance, because by this woman’s side was an interpreter. The trial court judge needed to swear in the interpreter first, before swearing in the actual juror. The oath an interpreter must take states that she will truthfully and accurately translate from English to whatever language that juror spoke and back again. The trial court, before swearing in the interpreter, asked “It is Amharic? Is that correct?” The answer was yes. And so the judge swore in the interpreter with the oath that she would truly and accurately translate English into Amharic and Amharic into English. That being accomplished, the interpreter then translated not only the juror’s oath to the woman, but also every question asked of the panel.

I was fascinated by the fact that the subject language was Amharic, with which I was not at all familiar.  It is spoken principally in the central highlands of the country. Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Southwest Semitic group and is related to Geʿez, or Ethiopic, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; it also has affinities with Tigré, Tigrinya, and the South Arabic dialects.  This doesn’t surprise me at all, as DeKalb County is Georgia’s most diverse county. DeKalb is primarily a suburban county, and is the second-most-affluent county with an African-American majority in the United States, behind Prince George’s County, Maryland, in suburban Washington, D.C.  As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 691,893 people, 271,809 households, and 161,453 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,585.7 inhabitants per square mile (998.3/km2). There were 304,968 housing units at an average density of 1,139.7 per square mile (440.0/km2).The racial makeup of the county was 54.3% black or African American, 33.26% white, 5.12% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 4.5% from other races, and 2.39% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 9.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 5.9% were English, 5.2% were German, and 3.5% were American.

Awards
American Association for Justice Badge
Georgia Trend Legal Elite Badge
State Bar of Georgia Badge
Georgia Trial Lawyers Association Badge
ABOTA Badge
LCA Badge
Top 50 Women attorneys in Georgia Badge
Super Lawyers Badge
Civil Justice Badge
International Society of Barristers Badge
Top 25 National Women Trial Lawyers Badge
Contact Information