Georgia Bar JournalJune 2002 Volume 7 Number 6 Quick Dial Attorney Discipline (800) 334-6865 ext. 720 (404) 527-8720 Consumer Assistance Program (404) 527-8759 Conference Room Reservations (404) 527-8712 Fee Arbitration (404) 527-8750 CLE Transcripts (404) 527-8710 Diversity Program (404) 527-8754 ETHICS Hotline (800) 682-9806 (404) 527-8741 Editorial Board Georgia Bar Foundation/IOLTA (404) 588-2240 Marisa Anne Pagnattaro Georgia Bar Journal (404) 527-8736 Editor-in-Chief Lawyer Assistance Program (770) 612-1122 (800) 327-9631 Scott Fain Bertschi Marcus D. Liner Lawyers Foundation of Georgia (404) 659-6867 Erika Birg W. Fray McCormick Law Practice Management (404) 527-8772 Erin Reynolds Chance E. Peyton Nunez Membership Records (404) 527-8777 Charles Madden Cork III Erick H. Rock Meetings Information (404) 527-8790 Lynda Carney Crum John I. Spangler III Pro Bono Project (404) 527-8763 Professionalism (404) 225-5040 John Michael Gross Robert R. 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Court- Features house photographs from the book appear on the cover. 24 2002 Legislative Session Highlights Top Legal Issues Photo credit: By Mark Middleton Wilber W. Caldwell 28 Historic Savannah Hosts the 2002 Spring BOG Meeting By Joe Conte Departments 32 An Annual Rendezvous for a Fifth of a Century: The American Law Institute and the State Bar of Georgia 4 Letter to the Editor By Dorothy Toth Beasley 6 From the President 48 Pro Bono Honor Roll 8 From the Executive Director 10 From the YLD President Annual Fiction Writing Competition 52 Bench & Bar 55 Office of the General Counsel 34 “Equitable Division” By Stephen L. Berry 57 Lawyer Discipline 59 Law Practice Management 40 “Mrs. Palsgraf’s Dream Team – A Play in One Act” By Henry W. 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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to same address. 87 Classified Resources A Defense of the 12-Person Jury fer if the jury were smaller. My hope for each n March 1999, the Supreme Court of Editor trial of which I am a part is that the verdict Georgia, by order of former Chief Justice will be reasonable under the facts and the Benham, appointed a commission of dis- I law and that common sense will be present in tinguished citizens to prepare a report with the jury room. The report in Section VI points recommendations for the improvement of the out that, since the Supreme Court of the judiciary in the state of Georgia. A report enti- United States says that a six-person jury tled “Georgia Courts in the 21st Century: The “does not prevent the jury from fulfilling its Report of the Supreme Court of Georgia Blue purpose” and that “there is nothing in the Ribbon Commission on the Judiciary” was Constitution that requires a jury of 12,” we prepared and published in the fall 2001 issue should go to six-person juries because they of the Mercer Law Review. The report, in my are legal and probably save time and money. opinion, made many excellent recommenda- If there ever was a time when the law and the tions and I commend the commission for the courts needed good public relations, it is report. There is, however, one recommenda- now. The law, and in particular the jury sys- tion that I find troubling, and the purpose of tem, has been under attack by various con- this letter is to give my reason for opposing it. stituencies for the past 25 or 30 years, but I The recommendation is that “all civil juries don’t recall the need of smaller juries as being Letter to the be composed of six persons rather than 12.” the basis of criticism by any representative Before I give my reasons for being opposed sampling of the public. Whatever problems to six-person juries, I must say in all candor we have, smaller juries would not solve that since I am a federal judge, I am some- them. Shouldn’t we aspire to a more lofty what uneasy giving my opinion on a report goal than “a jury of six does not prevent the that deals exclusively with the courts of the jury from fulfilling its function?” This is a state of Georgia. I believe in federalism, and backdoor endorsement if there ever was one. it might seem to some fair-minded people There are many reasons why 12 people that what the courts of Georgia propose make a better jury than six, but some of the regarding jury trials is no business of a feder- most important are as follows. A 12-person al judge. That is a perfectly reasonable posi- jury is, to use a word now in vogue, more tion, but I am also a resident of the state of diverse. A 12-person jury in the Middle Georgia and for 20 years before I became a District of Georgia typically has jurors who judge I tried cases almost exclusively in the are black and white, male and female, young state courts of Georgia. I feel that I have a and old, blue collar and white collar, and legitimate interest in the matter. with different educational backgrounds. We I must also point out that the basis for the have jurors that cover the waterfront — from constitutionality of less than 12 jurors origi- plant managers to janitors, and from college nated with a local rule of court in the federal professors to college students. I believe that court. A local rule in the District of Montana when the 12 of them put their heads together, authorized six-person juries and when chal- they usually come up with a verdict that is lenged on constitutional grounds finally reasonable under the law. reached the United States Supreme Court in Over the years I would estimate that I have 1973. The name of the case was Colegrove v. disagreed with jury verdicts less than 10 per- Battin, 93 S.Ct.