The Journal of Southern Legal History at Mercer Law Partners with the Georgia Legal History Foundation
The Southern Legal History Symposium held on Tuesday, February 10, in the Bell Jones Courtroom marked a pivotal moment for the Journal of Southern Legal History, celebrating both its distinguished past and its promising future at Mercer University School of Law. Hosted in conjunction with the Georgia Legal History Foundation, the symposium brought together an impressive roster of judges, scholars, faculty, alumni, and practitioners deeply invested in preserving—and advancing—the study of Southern legal history.
Panelists included Charles Adams, ’83, John Bell, Justice Charlie Bethel, Scott Henwood, and Stuart Walker, ’04. Kate Cook, ’02, and Professor Pat Longan served as moderators, and Professor Margie Alsbrook, who along with Longan serves as a faculty advisor to the Journal, also offered remarks. The event welcomed special attendees from the highest levels of the judiciary, including The Honorable Carla Wong McMillian and The Honorable John Ellington of the Georgia Supreme Court. Their presence underscored the Court’s longstanding support of the Journal and its commitment to its continued success.
Published regularly since 1991 by the Georgia Legal History Foundation, the Journal of Southern Legal History explores the development of law, legal culture, and courts across the American South. Its scope spans Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Texas. Known for its inclusive approach to scholarship, the Journal publishes not only traditional academic articles but also oral histories, memoirs, previously unpublished documents, photographs, and other nontraditional materials that bring legal history to life. Distributed to members of the Foundation—membership which is open to all—the Journal serves as a bridge connecting the academy, the bench, and the practicing bar.
The symposium celebrated the Journal as a true specialty journal at Mercer Law. In the mid-1990s, the Journal formed an informal relationship with Mercer, with much of the work supported by faculty such as Joe Claxton and Charles Adams, alumni, and a select group of students. The new chapter deepens that partnership by fully integrating law students into the Journal’s operations. Beginning this fall (2026), second-year law students will form the editorial board with academic credit now awarded for student service.
Adams’ interest in expanding opportunities for student scholarship dates back to his own law school days. He served as Georgia Survey Editor of the Mercer Law Review in 1982–1983 and remembers how competitive the publication was. “Law Review has a limited membership,” Adams recalled. “Many of my classmates had a lot to offer in terms of legal scholarship without an outlet to get published.”
Adams himself was already contributing to legal scholarship as a student. He became the first law student to publish an article in the Georgia State Bar Journal.
After graduating, Adams began teaching as an adjunct professor at Mercer Law School. Over time, he noticed that many peer institutions—including the University of Georgia and Emory—supported multiple student-edited legal publications.
“I’ve been advocating for this my whole career,” Adams said. “When we had the opportunity to give the Journal of Southern Legal History a home at Mercer back in 1994, I jumped at that.”
Adams went on to serve as editor in chief of the Journal for roughly a decade. While students assisted with editing and cite-checking during that time, the idea of student-authored scholarship never fully materialized.
“That was always part of the hope,” Adams said. “So, I’m really glad to see it coming back around now.”
Adams retired from adjunct teaching at Mercer Law in 2019 after 36 years in the classroom. Looking back across those decades, he says he encountered many students who would have benefited from the opportunity to publish—and whose ideas could have enriched the broader legal community.
Faculty leaders at Mercer say the Journal will provide exactly that opportunity.
Professor Pat Longan, the William Augustus Bootle Chair in Professionalism and Ethics, emphasized the significance of formally integrating the Journal into Mercer’s academic programs.
“This symposium was intended to kick off a new relationship between the Journal and Mercer Law School—one in which the Journal will be a true specialty journal with regular staffing by law student members and editors,” Longan said. “The faculty recently approved academic credit for student service on the Journal, just as students receive credit for service to the Mercer Law Review.”
Professor Margie Alsbrook highlighted the professional value the Journal offers students.
“The Journal of Southern Legal History provides students with another opportunity to distinguish themselves,” Alsbrook said. “Participation strengthens résumés, sharpens advanced writing and research skills, and carries the prestige that comes with publication in a respected historical journal.”
Because of the Journal’s deep connections to judges and practicing attorneys across the region, Alsbrook added, students who publish are widely recognized as demonstrating a high level of scholarly rigor—an asset that resonates well beyond law school.
Beyond professional development, Adams believes the Journal plays a deeper role in the legal community: preserving the lessons of history that shape the law’s future.
“There’s an old saying that those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it,” he said. “Understanding our past—how and why we got where we are—is indispensable to wise stewardship of the future.”
In many ways, Adams notes, the study of legal history mirrors the structure of the common law itself.
“This is the very foundation on which our system of precedent is erected,” he explained. “Every single decision is essentially a mini legal history article: ‘Here is how we’ve handled this before.’ And even if it needs to change, you still need to understand what it is you’re changing from.”
For students, participating in the Journal provides a practical introduction to that process of legal reasoning and interpretation.
“Students getting involved in this will soon find themselves part of a select society of top-level members of the bench and bar,” Adams said.
The Journal’s partnership with Mercer also advances the mission of the Georgia Legal History Foundation. Founded in 1985 by a group appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia, the Foundation was among the first organizations in the nation dedicated to preserving the legal history of a single state.
Its work includes CLE-accredited seminars, distinguished lecture dinners, the Nestor Awards honoring leading Georgia lawyers, and the preservation of historic legal artifacts—including the recreation of President Woodrow Wilson’s Atlanta law office.
Through the Journal, that mission continues—ensuring that the lessons of Southern legal history are not only preserved but passed forward to the next generation of lawyers.
