Inside the Legal Profession

For many years, James Lipton interviewed veteran actors and directors on his television program, “Inside the Actor’s Studio.” He did so in front of live audiences of students, who learned from and had the opportunity to interact with his distinguished guests.

In that spirit, and in that format, Mercer Law School requires all first-year students to attend programs that constitute its “Inside the Legal Profession” series.  These programs, which began in 2009, consist of hour-long interviews with distinguished members of the bench and bar.  Professor Longan interviews the guest for approximately 45 minutes, after which the students have about 15 minutes to ask questions. The students hear directly from lawyers in diverse practice areas and from judges on different kinds of courts. The students then routinely have the opportunity to speak informally with our guests.

Our guests for 2026 were:

• Hon. Charles Bethel, Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia
• Jim Fleissner, Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law
• Tomieka Daniel, Deputy Director, Georgia Legal Services Program
• Ashely Deadwyler-Heuman, Lead Attorney, Deadwyler-Heuman Law Firm, Macon
• Derrick Alexander Pope, Adjunct Professor and Instructor of Law, Georgia State University School of Law
• Eric Lang, Attorney, Lang Legal, Atlanta
• Caroline Conerly, Associate, Troutman Pepper Locke, Atlanta
• Charles Adams, Attorney, Ft. Valley Georgia
• Hon. Eric Dunaway, Judge, Fulton County Superior Court
• Brandon Peak, Partner, Peak, Wooten, McDaniel & Colwell, Columbus
• Hon. Lanier Anderson, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Rich Morrison, Assistant District Attorney, Piedmont Judicial Circuit
• Wes Beamon, Attorney and Owner, Beamon Law LLC, Americus
• Hon. Verda Colvin, Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia
• Tiffany Watkins, Counsel, Evans Bowers, Atlanta

Our guests for 2025 were:

• Judge Tom Cauthorn, Cauthorn, Owen & Sanders
• Professor Jim Fleissner, Mercer Law School
• Derrick Alexander Pope, Georgia State University College of Law
• Tomieka Daniel, Deputy Director, Georgia Legal Services
• Joshua Hale, Lighthouse Law Firm
• Professor Margie Alsbrook, Mercer Law School
• Carole Griffith, Judicial Council of Georgia’s Administrative Office of the Courts
• Judge Pandora Palmer, Superior Court, Henry County, Georgia
• Kristen Quinton, Staff Attorney, United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
• Eric Lang, Lang Legal
• Jordan Lipp, King & Spalding
• Samantha Lipp, Balch & Bingham
• Judge Ken Smith, Superior Court of Bibb County, Georgia
• Jameson Fisher, Public Defender, Augusta, Georgia
• Captain Sara Snowden, United States Air Force
• Ben Parrish, Mercer Law School
• Tim and Daisy Floyd, Mercer Law School
• Justice Verda Colvin, Supreme Court of Georgia

Our guests for 2024 were:

• Frank Gaddy, attorney, Martin Snow, Macon, Georgia
• Wes Beamon, attorney, Americus, Georgia
• Jill Edmondson, Southern Company, Atlanta, Georgia
• Shreya Shah, attorney, Greenberg Traurig, Atlanta, Georgia
• Tomieka Daniel, Deputy Director, Georgia Legal Services Program
• Jim Fleissner, Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law, and former Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Special Counsel
• Meagan Hurley, Assistant Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law
• Bill NeSmith, Deputy General Counsel, State Bar of Georgia
• Eric Lang, attorney, Lang Legal, Atlanta, Georgia
• The Honorable Sarah Hawkins Warren, Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia
• The Honorable W. Louis Sands, United States District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia
• The Honorable Lamar W. Sizemore, Jr., Superior Court of Bibb County (ret.), Of Counsel Clark Smith & Sizemore, Macon, Georgia
• Ben Mitcham, attorney, Gray, Georgia
• Leslie L. Cadle, attorney, Smith Hawkins Hollingsworth & Reeves, Macon, Georgia
• Ron Daniels, attorney, Eastman, Georgia
• Kaleb Byars, Assistant Professor of Law, Mercer University School of Law
• Vernon M. Strickland, attorney, Strickland Debrow, Newnan, Georgia
• Barry Debrow, Jr., attorney, Strickland Debrow, Newnan, Georgia
• The Honorable Mary Margaret Oliver, State Representative and attorney, Decatur, Georgia
• The Honorable Jeff Hanson, Chief Judge, State Court of Bibb County, Georgia

In 2014, Mercer Law School received the E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award from the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism and the E. Smythe Gambrell Fund for Professionalism in recognition of “outstanding achievement in the design and implementation of a model professionalism program” for “Inside the Legal Profession.”

Mercer University Press has published a collection of these interviews.