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| Affiliation | Nonpartisan |
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| Name | Leah Ward Sears |
| Address | 726 Spring St. NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30308, United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
June 13, 1955 |
| Died |
Still Living
(69 years) |
| Contributor | Reporting for Duty |
| Last Modifed | Juan Croniqueur
Apr 09, 2023 07:12pm |
| Tags |
Black - Married - Baptist - Straight -
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| Info | Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears has achieved a distinguished position in Georgia's history. She was the first African-American woman to serve as Superior Court Judge in Georgia. When appointed by the Governor of Georgia in February, 1992, she was the first woman and the youngest person ever to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court. Also, in retaining her appointed position as a Supreme Court Justice, Justice Sears became the first woman to win a contested state-wide election in Georgia.
Justice Sears is a 1976 graduate of Cornell University (B.S. Degree); a 1980 graduate of Emory University School of Law (J.D. Degree); and a 1995 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law (LL.M Degree). She also has engaged in extensive studies at the National Judicial College. Prior to becoming a judge, she was an attorney with the law firm of Alston & Bird. In 1993, Justice Sears received the honorary Doctor of Law degree from Morehouse College.
Justice Sears' professional and civil affiliations are varied and numerous. The Justice is past Chair of the American Bar Association's Board of Elections. She is also the immediate past Chair of the Judicial Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, and she also served as Chair of the Atlanta Bar's Minority Clerkship Program. Justice Sears founded and served as the first president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys. Chief Justice Sears serves on the Board of Directors of the Morehouse School of Medicine Center for Child Abuse & Neglect, the Board of Visitors of Mercer Law School, the Sadie G. Mays Nursing Home, the Georgia Chapter of the National Council of Christians and Jews, and she is a board member for Mission New Hope, a metropolitan Atlanta area substance abuse coalition. Justice Sears serves on the Cornell University Women's Council, the steering Committee for Georgia Women's History Month, and the Children's Defense Fund's Black Community Crusade for Children. In addition, Chief Justice Sears founded the Battered Women's Project in Columbus, Georgia.
Justice Sears is also a member of the Atlanta Chapter of Links, Inc., and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. The Justice is a member of the American, Georgia, Gate City, Atlanta, and National Bar Associations.
Emory University has honored Justice Sears as an "Outstanding Young Alumna" and as the Barkley Forum "Georgia Speaker of the Year". Georgia Trend magazine has honored Justice Sears as one of the "100 Most Influential Georgians," and in 1993 Business Atlanta magazine named her as one of the "Under Forty and on the Fast Track." In 1992, she received the "Margaret Brent Woman Lawyer of Achievement" award from the American Bar Association, the "Drum Major for Justice" award presented by SCLC Women during Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Week, and she was honored as an "Atlantan on the Move" by 100 Black Men of Atlanta. Also in 1992, Justice Sears received the "Excellence in Public Service" award from the Georgia Coalition of Black Women, and she was named by the YWCA of Greater Atlanta as one of its ten "Outstanding Women of Achievement." In addition, the Justice has written several articles regarding the legal profession which have been published.
Justice Sears is the daughter of Colonel and Mrs. Thomas E. Sears of Savannah, Georgia. Justice Sears has two children, a son, Addison Sears-Collins, and a daughter, Brennan Sears-Collins. Justice Sears is married to Haskell Sears Ward of Griffin, Georgia.
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