Memorandum

To:	Presiding Judge Birdsong, Presiding Judge Pope, Judge Beasley , Judge Blackburn and Judge Smith
From:	William L. Martin, III
Subject:	Proposed Rules for the Court of Appeals
Date:	September 23, 1997

At the April Banc Meeting the Court adopted the new proposed rules for the Court of Appeals with direction that the questions on Rule 1(e) and Rule 4 be resolved before publication. Rule 1(e) would provide that the Court does not accept fax filings. The proposed change in Rule 4 would be to do away with the certified mail rule.

After talking to lawyers around the state, both in the Metro Atlanta area and lawyers in more remote areas of the state, I have decided to recede from my position on doing away with the certified mail rule.

While the certified mail rule does cause a lot of extra work for the Clerk's Office (I can detail that for you if you wish) I believe that the confusion among the Appellate Bar would more than offset what extra work is required by the Clerk's Office. Additionally, after attending the Appellate Practice Seminar on Thursday, I am convinced that a majority of the judges on the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals and most all of the lawyers feel that the certified mail rule gives parody to the attorney practicing in Waycross with the attorney practicing in Atlanta. The importance of this sense of fairness which is perceived by the Bar, and which, in actuality, the certified mail rule provides, leads me to believe that we should make no change in that rule.

I have not changed my position on the fax rule. I have attached a memorandum which, although somewhat dated, expresses many of my concerns about the fax rule. I do believe that Rule 1(e) should be stricken so that the rules makes no reference to fax filing one way or the other. However, I do not think fax filing is a good idea at this time. The attached memo is dated August 19, 1997, but it was simply reprinted from an earlier memorandum I did to Judge Beasley last year when she was Chief Judge and she and I discussed this matter.

Please let me know your feelings on the positions I have taken on Rule 1(e) and Rule 4. I have attached copies of the rules discussed. Option 1 for Rule 4 is the one I proposed.

Attachments