Court of Appeals of Georgia

Court Centennial Committee Meeting

10:00 a.m. February 15, 2006

Third Floor Conference Room

Judicial Building

Atlanta, Georgia

Attendees:	Chief Judge John H. Ruffin, Jr., Chair

Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes	Judge John J. Ellington

Judge Marion T. Pope, Jr.	Mr. Charles Adams, III

Ms. Kimberly Esmond	Mr. Lendon Gibbs

Prof. Marjorie Girth	Ms. Bettieanne Hart

Mr. Scott Henwood	Ms. Jane Martin

Mr. Jeff Milsteen	Ms. Edith Primm

Ms. Vjollca Prroni	Ms. Jill Pryor

Ms. Laura Speed-Dalton	Ms. Rebecca Sullivan

Ms. Gwendolyn Fortson Waring

Mr. William L. Martin, III, Administrator, COA

Ms. Dianne Joy, COA	Ms. Holly Sparrow, COA

1.	The Chairperson called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. After a welcome
and introductions, the agenda and minutes were approved.

2.	Mr. Gibbs, reporting at the request of the Chairperson, stated that the
Foundation would be signing, later that day, the contract for reservation of the
Atlanta Aquarium for the Centennial dinner. The contract anticipates 600
guests with the right to increase that number until about about three weeks
before the event. The number can also be reduced by 10%, if necessary.

3.	Next, the Chairman asked Ms. Primm to explain her connection to the Court
of Appeals and introduce Ms. Prroni. Ms. Primm said her interest in the work
of the Committee had been stimulated by a speech that Chief Judge Ruffin had
made at Jekyll Island, and also because she has a family relationship to retired
Judge Frank Eldridge. Ms. Primm introduced Ms. Prroni as an analyst in the
Securities Litigation Department of the law firm of Powell Goldstein.

Ms. Prroni said that since one of the first three judges of the Court of Appeals
had been a founder of the law firm, the firm was interested in finding out how
it might contribute to the Centennial and the Committee's event planning. Ms.
Prroni was attending the meeting to become acquainted with the Committee
and its plans for the Centennial celebration. She indicated that the firm might
co-sponsor an event or provide other support to the Committee. Ms. Prroni
also reported that she was contacting the Atlanta Bar Association Litigation
Section about its interest in participating in the Centennial events.

4.	The report of the Program Subcommittee was next. First, Ms. Pryor gave an
account of the progress of the Educational Initiative. She indicated that the
high school contestants in the oratorical contest would prepare 3 minute
speeches on a selected topic. Scholarships would be presented to regional
winners and an overall competition winner. Finals would be in September with	an invitation to the dinner for the ultimate winner. She hopes to nail down the
details of the competition so that announcements can be sent to the schools in
March or April, 2006.

Ms. Pryor also said that she has spoken with representatives of various school
competitions to determine how the Centennial competition could be organized.
She had contacted the Mock Trial Program, the National Forensic League, and
the American Legion. The American Legion sponsors a Georgia high school
oratorical contest. Mr. Adams asked if she had contacted the Chamber of
Commerce which sponsors the STAR (Student Teacher Achievement
Recognition) Program. He suggested they might be able to provide the
Committee some guidance on conducting a statewide competition. Ms. Pryor
stated she would contact them after the meeting.

By the next meeting, Ms. Pryor plans to have the outline of the competition to
present to the Committee. She asked if Chief Judge Ruffin would send a letter,	at that time, to Superintendent Kathy Cox informing her of the competition and	soliciting support from the Department of Education.

5.	Chief Judge Ruffin thanked Ms. Sullivan and the Governor for supporting the
Proclamation Ceremony. Also, Ms. Joy, along with the remainder of the
committee,	expressed appreciation of the aid given by the Governor's office.	Ms. Joy pointed out that the bronze plaque commemorating the Centennial had
been finished, and the Court plans, once delivery is arranged, to display it to
the Committee.

6.	Next, the Chairperson asked Judge Barnes to report for the Program
Subcommittee on the forums. She stated that her subcommittee discovered that	a new option existed to have an initial panel on Law and Religion at the State
Bar Convention in June, 2006 at Hilton Head Island. The Institute of
Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) would be willing to schedule a 2 to 5 hour
session. Judge Barnes remarked that Mr. John Witte, of the Emory University
Center for the Study of Law and Religion, is willing to present a paper of about	30 to 50 minutes which could be followed by comments and rebuttal
statements of other panelists. Mr. Jeff Bramlett, who was one of the attorneys
involved in the Cobb County textbook sticker suit, is also willing to participate.	Professionalism would be addressed in the forum. ICLE, Judge Barnes,
commented would advertise the program and take care of the administrative
tasks such as registration, check-in and processing of continuing education
credits.

Judge Barnes stated that, in order to take advantage of this option, the
Committee needs to coordinate the date and provide ICLE the names of the
panelists. Gwendolyn Waring asked if the committee could coordinate the
date so that it would not conflict with GABWA educational offerings at the
convention so the GABWA members could attend. It was decided that Judge
Barnes, Charles Adams and Gwenolyn Waring would coordinate this forum
with Larry Jones and Scott Coulter at ICLE.

Regarding the plan for additional fall forums, Judge Barnes, stated that Emory
would still be the location for another panel on Religion and the Law which
would involve other speakers. Judge Barnes also indicated that she had
discussed panelists for a forum on the topic	of Judicial Restraint versus
Activism with Mr. Al Pearson. They had discussed inviting Judge Richard
Posner, Harvard University Law School, or Ed Larson, University of Georgia
Law School, to participate.

Judge Barnes noted that it would be valuable if either Court or site staff could
videotape each of the forum sessions. AIB, Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters, has	expressed interest	in airing the forums on the topic of Law and Religion.
Others might also be interested in publishing or preserving the content of the
forums.

7.	Charles Adams gave a summary of the progress on the Court History Book
noting that he had discussed with Professor Girth the possibility of including
either a final chapter of the book or appendix materials which would
memorialize the Centennial events. He asked that Committee members
provide title suggestions for the book to him. There was a discussion	of the
number of copies of the Court History that would be needed. It was decided
Mr. Adams should discuss this with Mr. Gibbs since the book may be presented	to dinner sponsors or attendees as well as be distributed to schools and libraries	around the state.

8.	Chief Judge Ruffin informed the committee members that the judges of the
U.S. Supreme Court and the Clerk would be unavailable as Centennial dinner
speakers since they would be just beginning their court's fall term on the
date of the dinner. Therefore, on the recommendation of Mr. Gibbs, Judge
Pope and some of the 11th Circuit judges, he was	proposing Judge William
Wilson from Arkansas be the dinner speaker. It was noted that the speech
would last no longer than 20 minutes. Mr. Gibbs explained that it was
thought that Judge Wilson could provide both a humorous note and serious
content to the speech within such time limits. Judge Ellington and Mr.
Henwood also lent their support to the recommendation of Judge Wilson.

Judge Ruffin indicated the Court would consider this recommendation, but also	asked that if there were other recommendations, they be provided to him within	the next 7 days.

9.	Judge Ruffin announced that a meeting would be held in March only if he
determined there was business the whole committee needed to discuss. He also	announced that the Court would be holding its first two off-site oral arguments
this year in Augusta on March 23, 2006 and At Georgia State University in
Atlanta on March 27, 2006.

There being no further business, the Chairperson adjourned the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

____________________________________

Holly K. O. Sparrow

Deputy Court Administrator

Court of Appeals of Georgia