The Oral History Project

The Mercer Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism has undertaken to collect and preserve the life stories of distinguished Georgia lawyers and judges. We began recording a series of oral histories with a generous grant from the Foundation of the American College of Trial Lawyers. The Journal of Southern Legal History has published transcripts of some of the interviews. We hope that the interviews will help law students and lawyers to see and understand what it means to be a professional and to appreciate the personal fulfillment that comes from a career and a life conducted in such a manner.

Our interviews so far have included the following lawyers and judges:

Frank Jones. The transcript published at 17 Journal of Southern Legal History 153 (2009).

Former Chief Justice Harold Clarke. The transcript is published at 19 Journal of Southern Legal History 269 (2011). To see Justice Clarke’s comments on the creation of the Georgia Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, click here.

United States Bankruptcy Judge W. Homer Drake, Jr. The transcript is published at 21 Journal of Southern Legal History 17 (2013).

A. James Elliott, Associate Dean at the Emory University School of Law and former President of the State Bar of Georgia. The first segment of Dean Elliott’s oral history may be viewed by clicking here.

Professor of Law Jack Sammons. The link to the first session is here.

Manley Brown. The published transcript is available at 26 Journal of Southern Legal History 7 (2018).

The oral history project is ongoing. If you have suggestions for people who should be interviewed, please contact Professor Longan at longan_p@law.mercer.edu or 478-301-2639. You may also direct suggestions and inquiries to the Journal of Southern Legal History at jslh@mercer.edu. As the project goes forward, this generation of law students and young lawyers will have increasing opportunities to see and understand what it means to live a life in the law in accordance with the best traditions of the profession.