• Source: List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Georgia

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Georgia. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.




Firsts in Georgia's history






= Lawyers

=
First African American males: Styles Hutchins (1878) and Judson Whitlocke Lyons (1884)
First African American male to practice before the Supreme Court of Georgia: Henry Moses Porter in 1901
First Asian American male prosecutor: David Synyoung Lee




= State judges

=
First African American male (judge): James M. Simms in 1871
First African American male after Reconstruction (judge): Austin "A.T." Walden (1911) in 1964
First African American male (trial court): Horace Ward (1959) in 1974
First African American male (temporary; Supreme Court of Georgia): Clarence Cooper in 1985
First African American male (permanent; Supreme Court of Georgia and Chief Justice): Robert Benham (1970) in 1989 and 1995 respectively
First Asian American male elected (state court): Alvin "Al" T. Wong (1976) in 1998
First Korean American (male) (judicial office): Chung Hun Lee (1983) in 1999
First Hispanic American male (state court): Roland Castellanos in 1999
First Hispanic American male (trial court): J. Antonio DelCampo in 2002
First Jewish American male (Chief Judge; Georgia Court of Appeals): Arnold Shulman
First African American male (Chief Judge; Georgia Court of Appeals): John "Jack" H. Ruffin Jr. in 2005
First Asian American male (juvenile court): Tony Baker in 2007
First Asian American male elected (Cambodian descent) (superior court): Meng H. Lim (1998) in 2014
First Hispanic American male (superior court): Dean Carlos Bucci (1997) in 2015
First Vietnamese American (male) (municipal court): Ethan Pham in 2018




= Federal judges

=
First African American male (federal court): Horace Ward (1959) in 1979
First African American male (U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Georgia): Willie Louis Sands (1974) in 1994




= Attorney General of Georgia

=
First African American male: Thurbert Baker from 1997-2011
First Jewish American male: Sam Olens from 2011-2016




= Assistant Solicitor General of Georgia

=
First Iranian American male: Mazi Mazloom (1998)




= United States Attorneys

=
First African American male (Southern District of Georgia): Ed Tarver (1991) in 2009
First Asian American male (Korean descent) (Northern District of Georgia): B. J. Pak in 2018




= District Attorney

=
First African American male elected: Paul L. Howard, Jr. in 1997




= Political office

=
First openly gay male (Korean descent) (elected to the state legislature): Sam Park in 2017




= Associations

=
First Asian American male president (Council of State Court Judges in Georgia): Alvin "Al" T. Wong (1976) in 2021
First Latino American male president (State Bar of Georgia): J. Antonio DelCampo in 2023




Firsts in local history


Chevene Bowers King (1952): First African American male lawyer to practice in Southwest Georgia
Alvin "Al" T. Wong (1976): First Asian American male to be elected as a judge in the Southeastern United States
Kenneth Dious: First African American male lawyer in Northeast Georgia
Miguel Dominguez: First Latino American male to work as a prosecutor in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit
Jared Williams: First African American male to serve as the District Attorney of the Augusta Judicial Circuit (2020) [Burke, Columbia, and Augusta-Richmond Counties, Georgia]
Stephen Schuster: First Jewish male elected as a judge in Cobb County, Georgia (2004)
Nathan Wade: First African American male to serve as a municipal court judge in Cobb County, Georgia (2010)
John "Jack" H. Ruffin Jr.: First African American male admitted to the Augusta Bar Association (1961) and to serve as a Superior Court judge in the Augusta Judicial Circuit (1986) [Columbia and Richmond Counties, Georgia]
Bill Pledger (c. 1880s): First African American male lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia [DeKalb County and Fulton County, Georgia]
Clarence Cooper (1967): First African American male Judge of the Atlanta Municipal Court (DeKalb County and Fulton County, Georgia; 1975). He would later become a district court judge.
Edward L. Baety (1968): First African American male judge of the municipal traffic court in Atlanta, Georgia (DeKalb County and Fulton County, Georgia; 1975)
Leonard Danley: First African American male magistrate judge in Douglasville, Douglas County, Georgia
Horace J. Johnson Jr. (1982): First African American male lawyer in Newton County, Georgia. He later became the first African American male to serve as a Judge of the Alcovy Judicial Circuit in 2002. [Newton and Walton Counties, Georgia]
Willie Louis Sands (1974): First African American male judge in Bibb County, Georgia
Eugene H. Gadsden: First African American male admitted to the Savannah Bar Association. In 1979, he became the first African American male to become a Superior Court judge in Chatham County, Georgia.
Lester B. Johnson III (1979): First African American male to serve as the President of the Savannah Bar Association (1996) [Chatham County, Georgia]
Jeremy Abernathy: First African American male to serve as a municipal judge for Woodstock, Georgia (2021)
Aaron Mason: First African American male to serve as a Judge of the Clayton County Superior Court
Ethan Pham: First Asian American (who is of Vietnamese descent) male judge in Clayton County, Georgia (2018)
Alvin "Al" T. Wong (1976): First Asian American male elected as a judge in DeKalb County, Georgia (1998)
Seth Kirschenbaum: First Jewish male to serve as the President of the Atlanta Bar Association, Georgia (2001)
J. Antonio DelCampo: First Hispanic American male to serve as a Judge of the State Court of DeKalb County in Georgia (2002)
Mike Jacobs: First openly LGBT judge in DeKalb County, Georgia (2018)
Dr. Franklin Goldwire: First African American male to serve as a magistrate judge of the Effingham County Magistrate Court, Georgia (2021)
Charles "Chuck" Floyd: First African American male judge in Fayette County, Georgia (2002)
Horace Ward (c. 1960): First African American male to serve as a Judge of the Civil Court of Fulton County (1974) and Superior Court of Fulton County (1977), Georgia
Paul L. Howard, Jr.: First African American male elected to serve as the District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia (1997)
Robert D. Walker Jr. (1989): First African American male judge in Gwinnett County, Georgia
Chung Hun Lee (1983): First Korean American male lawyer and judge in Gwinnett County, Georgia
Deepak "DJ" Jeyaram: First South Asian male judge in Gwinnett County, Georgia (2016)
Ramon Alvarado: First Latino American and Korean American male judge in Gwinnett County, Georgia (2019)
Joe Diaz: First Latino American male to serve as a Judge in the Northeastern Judicial District, Georgia (2015) [Hall County, Georgia]
Meng H. Lim (1998): First Asian American male (Cambodian American) elected as a Judge of the Superior Court of Tallapoosa Circuit (2014) [Haralson County, Georgia]
Darius Pattillo: First African American male to serve as the District Attorney of Henry County, Alabama (2017)
Albert Thompson: First African American male lawyer in Columbus, as well as the first African American male jurist in Muscogee County, Georgia
Dean Carlos Bucci (1997): First Hispanic American male to serve as a Superior Court Judge of the Paulding Judicial Circuit, Georgia (2015)
Charles Mays: First African American male probate judge in Rockdale County, Georgia
Clarence Cuthpert, Jr.: First African American male to serve as a State Court Judge in Rockdale County, Georgia (2021)
Robert L. Moore: First African American male to serve as the Assistant District Attorney in Thomasville, Georgia [Thomas County, Georgia]
Larry Mims: First African American male lawyer and judge in Tift County, Georgia
Monroe G. Worthy: First African American male to serve as a Justice of the Peace in Upson County, Georgia
Rodney B. Weaver: First African American male to serve as a Judge of the Whitfield County Magistrate Court (2019)




See also


List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States




Other topics of interest


List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
List of first woman lawyers and judges in Georgia




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Georgia
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Louisiana
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Alabama
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Michigan
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in South Carolina
• List of first women lawyers and judges in Georgia
• List of first women lawyers and judges in Arkansas
• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first women lawyers and judges in California