2027 Alumni Award Recipients

Kate Sievert Cook, ’02
Outstanding Alumna Award

Kate Cook’s career is defined by leadership in the courtroom, the classroom, the legal profession, and the communities she serves. A magna cum laude graduate of Mercer Law, Cook is a trial lawyer, legal scholar, educator, and advocate whose influence extends well beyond her own practice.

Cook and her husband, Matthew E. Cook, ’99, founded Cook Law Group, LLC, in Gainesville in 2013 after she spent nine years with the national trial firm Butler, Wooten & Fryhofer, LLP. Throughout her career, she has authored numerous legal articles and argued cases before state and federal trial courts, the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Georgia Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Mercer Law.

In 2023, she was named to the editorial board of the Journal of Southern Legal History and worked with the faculty and administration to make the Journal the second official publication of the law school. In 2024, she served as a panelist at the American Bar Association/American Association of Law Schools Law School Development Conference in New York and has presented at various GTLA and State Bar events.

Cook’s commitment to Mercer runs deep. She has served on the Mercer Law Alumni Board of Directors, including as chair, is past president of the Law School Board of Visitors and is incoming chair of the President’s Club for Mercer University. She and her husband regularly welcome law students and alumni into their Macon home, creating opportunities for connection.

Her civic leadership reaches beyond the legal profession. Cook serves on the boards of organizations such as the Georgia Legal History Foundation, Quinlan Visual Arts Center, Atlanta Opera, and Atlanta Botanical Garden. She also is a member of the advisory board of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Rotary Club of Gainesville.

Her path to leadership began with a diverse upbringing. The daughter of an Air Force colonel, Cook was born at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan and grew up in places including Alaska and Germany. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of the South in 1998 with a degree in Russian language and literature and studied urban housing privatization in Russia as a Biehl Grant recipient.

At Mercer Law, Cook was a Woodruff Scholar, Eleventh Circuit Survey Editor for the Mercer Law Review, and member of the Brainerd F. Currie Honor Society. After graduation, she became the first law clerk for the Honorable Clay D. Land of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, with whom she co-founded the Columbus Inn of Court.

The Honorable John C. Carbo, ’79
Meritorious Service Award

The Honorable John C. Carbo, ’79, has spent his career serving the legal profession and his community, guided by a commitment to education, advocacy and the preparation of future lawyers. His enduring love for Mercer University School of Law has inspired him to give generously of his time and experience, helping students develop the skills and confidence to become practice-ready attorneys.

A native of Forest Park, GA, Carbo earned his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Georgia in 1976 before coming to Mercer Law. As a law student, he served on the Moot Court Board, participated in Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity and was president of the Interfraternity Council. After graduating in 1979, he entered private practice in Clayton County, where he worked until 1983.

Carbo then became solicitor general of the State Court of Clayton County, a position he held for five years before being appointed a state court judge in 1988. He served on the bench for nearly three decades, including five years as chief judge from 2012 to 2017. Since 2017, he has served as a senior judge for the State Courts of Georgia, presiding in state courts across eight counties and superior courts in 12 counties. During his nine years in practice before becoming a judge, he also served as counsel in 37 reported cases before Georgia’s appellate courts.

His contributions to the legal profession have included serving as president of the Metro Solicitors Association and the Council of State Court Judges. His honors include the Council of State Court Judges’ Ogden Doremus/Kent Lawrence Award in 2016 and educator awards from the Empire Mock Trial Association in 2023 and the Midtown Mock Trial Foundation in 2024.

Carbo’s dedication to developing future advocates is especially evident in his longstanding commitment to mock trial education. From 2000 to 2023, he volunteered as an attorney coach for the Jonesboro High School Mock Trial Team. Under the team’s collective efforts, it earned 21 regional championships, 11 state championships and two national championships. Several of his former students have gone on to graduate from Mercer Law, including Assistant Dean of Advocacy Katie Powers, ’09, or others who are currently law students.

That commitment continues at Mercer. Carbo served on the Law School Alumni Board from 2020 to 2023 and remains actively involved in the advocacy program as a guest judge, evaluator and volunteer coach. Since 2022, he has served as lead volunteer coach for Mercer teams in nine separate mock trial competitions, sharing practical knowledge gained through decades on the bench.

For Carbo, this service reflects a simple but enduring motivation: his love for Mercer and his desire to help the Law School produce practice-ready attorneys. Through his continued investment in students, the alumni association and the advocacy program, he exemplifies the spirit of the Meritorious Service Award.

Shannon Mills, ’17
Young Alumnus Volunteer of the Year Award

A commitment to service and a belief in the difference an attorney can make in someone’s life have guided Shannon Mills, ’17, throughout his career. A native of New Orleans and a Double Bear, Mills earned his undergraduate degree in management and finance from Mercer University before continuing at Mercer Law, where he served as treasurer of the Black Law Student Association and competed in the Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition.

Mills began his legal career in January 2018 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow with the Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP) in Macon. Through the fellowship, he represented individuals facing housing challenges, including evictions, lease disputes, security deposit issues and inadequate living conditions. After completing the fellowship in 2020, he continued with GLSP as a staff attorney, became a supervising attorney in 2021 and, in April 2024, was named director of attorney recruitment and engagement. In that role, he leads the organization’s attorney recruitment efforts while focusing on staff engagement and retention. He also continues to supervise attorneys and housing support staff in the Macon Regional Office.

Among his most meaningful accomplishments is his work to address housing instability throughout the Macon community. In 2021, Mills helped bring together local organizations through the Macon Eviction Prevention Program to connect families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with rental assistance. The collaboration resulted in a coordinated community outreach effort, a telephone resource line and an event where volunteers helped families apply for assistance. The work helped families secure rental support and avoid potential homelessness.

Mills also helped establish annual collaborative meetings between GLSP and the Macon Housing Authority. By bringing recurring tenant concerns directly to housing officials, these meetings have created opportunities to move beyond individual cases and pursue systemic improvements that benefit entire communities.

His commitment extends beyond his clients and colleagues. Mills is past president of the Macon Bar Association’s Executive Committee, chairs the State Bar of Georgia’s Committee to Promote Inclusion in the Profession’s Undergraduate and Law School Outreach efforts, and chairs the Equal Justice Works Alumni Advisory Committee. In 2026, he was selected as one of 40 Equal Justice Works 40×40 Changemakers from 280 candidates, recognizing his leadership, community impact and commitment to service.

Mills also remains deeply connected to Mercer Law, volunteering with incoming students, mentoring moot court competitors, participating in career panels and helping students explore public interest law. He credits Mercer with providing the relationships, support and foundation that shaped his professional character. Giving back, he says, is his way of passing along the care he received.