“Murder, Politics and Scandal: Famous Cases and Characters of the Athens Bar and Beyond” says it all. It’s the title of a seminar at the UGA law school next week that pairs some of our most famous cases and legal personalities with speakers exceptionally well qualified to discuss them. Former Congressman Don Johnson, who has the tape recordings of his father’s closing argument as prosecutor, will discuss the case growing out of the ambush of Col. Lemuel Penn; local defense attorney Ed Tolley will talk about the contract killing of Athens restaurateur T.K. Harty; and Rev. Dickey Hoard will relive the gangland assassination of his father, Jackson County District Attorney Floyd Hoard.
Local attorney Ed Allen gets to remind us of the lawsuit between legendary UGA football coach Wally Butts and Curtis Publishing Co., over the famous Saturday Evening Post article accusing Butts and Alabama Coach Bear Bryant of fixing the 1962 game between the Dogs and the Tide.
The go-to guy in the political science department, Dr. Chuck Bullock, will talk about the famous controversy arising from Georgia having three different governors at the same time. Emmett Bondurant, a local boy who went off to Atlanta and became an acclaimed attorney, will talk about legal maneuverings growing out of the election of Gov. Lester Maddox; Congressman John Barrow will give us his view of his father, the late Judge James Barrow; Atlanta lawyer’s lawyer Norman Underwood will share an inside look at the late Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr., whom he served as an aide.
Former Athenian, former Georgia Commissioner of Labor, Atlanta attorney Michael Thurmond (and Acting Superintendent of the DeKalb County school system), will speak, if he can get away, on African-American lawyers of Georgia; local attorney John Timmons will give a history of legal-aid efforts here; and law prof emeritus and Flagpole contributor Eugene Wilkes will highlight some of the colorful characters in the long history of the local bar, and so will attorney and mediator Denny Galis. Judge Marvin Sorrells will talk about his father’s role in the splitting off of the Alcovy Circuit from the Western Circuit (allegedly because Judge Barrow required attorneys to come in to court on Saturdays); Prof Ron Carlson and prosecutor Michael S. Carlson will analyze the Georgia Code compiled by T.R.R. Cobb; and local aggregator of all things Athenian, Milton Leathers, will talk about the classic home of his ancestor, Gen. Cobb, now restored and maintained for community use by the Watson-Brown Foundation.
Last but not least on the program is a panel discussion on legal ethics that includes, apparently, meditations on the careers of two of the most flamboyant Athens lawyers in modern times: Jim Hudson and Guy Scott. Carrying this load will be David Montgomery, who practiced with Hudson, Dave Burch, John Larkins and former District Attorney Harry Gordon. Stories associated with those two stalwarts could occupy the whole seminar.
Alas, a highlight is not to be. The organizers thought better of including a discussion, by Federal District Court Judge Steve Jones, of the famous case that grew out of the incident in which the eminent dean of the UGA journalism school was shot by his wronged wife—the bullet, deflected by his wallet, doing little bodily harm, but considerable damage to his reputation.
If you are of a certain age, you realize what a treasure trove this promises to be. You’ll have to pay handsomely for it: $100 for the general public. Lawyers pay more and get credit for continuing education. The seminar is put on by the Georgia Legal History Foundation (which has presented similar programs in Savannah and Augusta), and it’s in the Hatton Lovejoy Courtroom in the law school on campus. It starts at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Mar. 7 and runs all day Friday, Mar. 8, beginning at 9 a.m. The courtroom doesn’t hold a lot of people, so if you’ve got the time and money to hear all these star performers talk about these legendary cases, email local attorney Kevin Sweat, kevinsweat@cntblaw.com, or fax him at 706-548-0956, and he’ll get you registered, if there’s still room.
Tune in to “Live With Gwen and Pete” Thursdays at noon on WXAG 1470 AM.
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