J.D. Smith (of counsel)

Judge Smith retired from the Georgia Court of Appeals in 2011 after serving on that court for over 18 years, having been appointed by Governor Zell Miller in 1993. Before he began his appellate work, he was Chief Judge of the Superior Courts of the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, which then included Dawson, Hall, Lumpkin, and White counties. He won election to the Superior Court judgeship in a contested election in 1984 and took office on January 1, 1985.

During his nearly two decades on the Georgia Court of Appeals, he served on panels with over a dozen of the other judges of that court and authored over 1,900 published opinions, as well as hundreds of unpublished decisions. As an author or voting judge, he participated in over 6,000 published opinions. During his eight years as a Superior Court Judge, he was a general jurisdiction trial judge who presided over countless criminal and civil jury trials.

Judge Smith practiced law in Gainesville for over a decade before becoming a judge. He is a member and past President of the Gainesville-Northeastern Circuit Bar Association. He is a Master in the Joseph Henry Lumpkin American Inn of Court and served as its President from 2001 to 2006. He is also a Master in the E. Wycliffe Orr, Sr. American Inn of Court. Before entering private practice, he served as law assistant to Justice William B. Gunter of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

He obtained his legal education at the University of Georgia School of Law, where he received a Juris Doctor degree in 1972. He was on the Dean’s List and served as Associate Editor of The Georgia Law Review. He has served as chair of the law school’s Board of Visitors and is a recipient of the law school’s Distinguished Service Scroll. He is also a graduate of the University of Florida, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, in economics in 1968, and where he was on the Dean’s List and a member of the President’s Honor Roll. In 1977, he was awarded a Master of Laws in Taxation degree from the Emory University School of Law. He earned that degree while maintaining a full-time law practice in Gainesville. He earned an LL.M. degree in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1998. Presiding Judge Smith is also a graduate of the New York University School of Law Appellate Judges Seminar. He has been an instructor at the National Judicial College and numerous legal education seminars. He is also a past chair of the Georgia Institute of Continuing Judicial Education.