The two candidates in Tuesday's runoff for an open seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals have spent the better part of their legal careers doing appellate work. Their challenge now in the low-profile race is getting enough Georgians to take notice and come out to vote.
Because runoffs for seats on the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court are the only two statewide races on the Nov. 30 ballot, turnout could be miniscule. In 2004, fewer than 250,000 Georgians cast ballots in a Court of Appeals runoff when it was the only statewide race. More than 3.2 million votes had been cast in the general election.
The nonpartisan Court of Appeals race pits Atlanta lawyer Antoinette "Toni" Davis, 59, against Decatur lawyer Chris McFadden, 53. Davis led the six-candidate field in the general election with 25.5 percent of the vote, and McFadden finished second with 22.6 percent.
Davis said she is running her campaign on a shoestring budget. McFadden said he is putting a good bit of his own money into his campaign. Monday is the deadline for filing campaign contribution reports.
Davis said she gained the experience necessary to become an appellate judge by working 14 years as a staff attorney at the Georgia Supreme Court, where she worked for three justices and reviewed death-penalty appeals.
Davis said she would model herself after retired Justice Hardy Gregory, for whom she worked for more than a decade. Gregory, she said, instilled in her the importance of being thorough -- reading the entire record before deciding a case.
"She is one of the most self-effacing people I've ever met and can write as well as anyone," said Gregory, now a Cordele attorney. "She has tremendous ability and the intellect to think things through and figure it all out."
Being a member of the Court of Appeals bench, Davis said, "would give me the opportunity to marry my desires and passions -- my love for the law and my love to write. Nothing excited me as much as helping to decide cases."
If elected, Davis said, her goal is to write court decisions that are clear not only to lawyers and trial judges,"but also to regular folks so they can know what is expected of them."
Since leaving the court, Davis has worked as a private attorney, most recently for the Atlanta plaintiffs firm Boone & Stone. She writes legal briefs and appeals and helps develop trial strategy for the firm's attorneys.
The winner of the runoff will succeed Judge Edward Johnson, who is retiring.
Johnson disclosed he would not seek re-election in June 2009 at the State Bar of Georgia's annual meeting. McFadden, who was in the audience, said he immediately went out to his car and found the candidate name tag he wore for his unsuccessful campaign for a Court of Appeals seat in 2008. He put it on and then walked back into the meeting, announcing he was running again.
"I think this is the best use of my talents," said McFadden, a sole practitioner.
McFadden, president-elect of the Atlanta Bar Association, has specialized in appeals work for two decades. He co-founded the State Bar of Georgia's appellate practice section and co-wrote the book "Georgia Appellate Practice," which is used by lawyers and judges.
"I've never known any attorney who is more in love with appeals than Chris," said Mike Mears, associate dean for the John Marshall Law School. "I think he brings the greater experience to the appellate process in this race, and he's represented so many people on appeal he has that unique perspective as well."
McFadden said he helped resolve a potential crisis earlier this year after lawmakers raised the cost of copying and preparing a case record for appeal from $1.50 a page to $10 a page. That boosted the costs of routine appeals to tens of thousands of dollars, making it too expensive for many litigants to pursue them. McFadden said he drafted a proposed rule that would allow both parties in a case to prepare a record for appeal and avoid the $10-per-page fees.
The State Bar of Georgia submitted the proposed change, which was adopted by both the state Supreme Court and, later, the Court of Appeals.
