5/2/18 – CHIEF JUDGE DILLARD TO HEAR GEORGIA SUPREME COURT CASE

Atlanta, May 2, 2018 –Chief Judge Stephen Louis A. Dillard of the Georgia Court of Appeals has been designated to serve in place of Justice Nels S. D. Peterson in the appeal of Withers et al. v. Schroeder (S17G1875). The Supreme Court of Georgia will hear arguments in the case on May 7, 2018 during its 10:00 A.M. session. In this case, a DeKalb County judge and court administrator are appealing a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling that partially reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit against them. In addition to hearing arguments, Chief Judge Dillard will participate in the Court’s decision.

Chief Judge Dillard, 48, was appointed as the 73rd judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia by former Gov. Sonny Perdue on Nov. 1, 2010. He was elected in 2012 to serve a full six-year term on the Court. He currently serves as the Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals.

Chief Judge Dillard received his B.A. from Samford University in 1992 and his law degree (with honors) from the Mississippi College School of Law in 1996. He was in private practice from 1996 to 2001 with the law firm of Stone & Baxter. From 2001 to 2003, he served as a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit for Judge Daniel A. Manion. He then joined the firm of James Bates Pope & Spivey in Macon, GA.

In 2017, Chief Judge Dillard was named Samford University’s “Alumnus of the Year.” He was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to serve on the Georgia Appellate Jurisdiction Review Commission in 2015. Chief Judge Dillard serves on the Georgia Judicial Council, the Speakers Bureau of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, and the Board of Advisors of the Atlanta Lawyers Chapter.

Chief Judge Dillard resides in Macon with his wife and three children and is an active parishioner of Saint Joseph Catholic Church.

(Designated judges are appointed when a justice must recuse himself or herself from a particular case. The Supreme Court of Georgia maintains a list of select judges from around the state and when the need arises, the Court appoints the next judge on the list.)