ATLANTA – Savannah attorney Paul W. Painter Jr. has been named chair of the Antoinette (Toni) Davis for Georgia Court of Appeals Judge campaign committee.
Painter is a past president of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association and the Savannah Bar Association and a past chair of the State Bar of Georgia General practice and Trial Section.
A partner with Ellis, Painter, Ratterree & Adams LLP, Painter is also chairman of the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is a recipient of the State Bar’s Traditions of Excellence Award. He has been named one of Georgia’s “Top 100” lawyers by Law & Politics and as a Georgia “Super Lawyer” by Atlanta magazine and has been recognized repeatedly by the publication The Best Lawyers in America.
Painter is also a fellow of the Georgia Bar Foundation and has been appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia as a member of the Georgia Board of Bar Examiners and by the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to its Committee on Lawyer Qualifications and Conduct.
Painter graduated from Georgia Tech, where he was a varsity football player, and the University of Georgia School of Law, where he was senior editor of the Georgia Law Review. He has served as president of the University of Georgia Law School Association and as a member of the law school’s Board of Visitors.
“Toni Davis has the qualities to be an outstanding judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals,” Painter said. “Her research, writing and reasoning skills have been honed by her experiences of serving as director of the legal writing program at the University of Georgia School of Law, working as staff counsel for the Supreme Court of Georgia and handling a multitude of cases in private practice. She has an excellent judicial temperament and will be fair and impartial to all litigants. The Georgia Court of Appeals is one of the busiest appellate courts in the country, and she will be a diligent, hard-working member of the Court if elected.”
Painter succeeds former Georgia Court of Appeals Chief Judge Marion T. Pope Jr. in serving as chairman of the Davis campaign. Pope had to resign from the campaign when he returned to the bench last week to provide assistance to the Court of Appeals as a senior judge until the vacancy created by the death last month of Judge Debra H. Bernes is filled. Rules of the Judicial Qualifications Commission prohibit active senior judges from participating in political campaigns.
Davis is also endorsed by former Supreme Court of Georgia Chief Justices Harold G. Clarke and Norman S. Fletcher, former Supreme Court Justice Hardy Gregory Jr., former Court of Appeals Judge Irwin Stolz, former Georgia Republican Party Chairman Chuck Clay and former Georgia House Majority Leader Larry Walker, among many others.
Davis was the leading candidate in campaign contributions among the six candidates for the Georgia Court of Appeals post being vacated by retiring Judge Edward H. Johnson, according to June 30 financial disclosure statements.
Davis worked for 14 years as an attorney on the staff of the Supreme Court of Georgia before entering private practice in 1994. She is currently a partner in Boone & Stone, a civil litigation firm with offices in Atlanta and Blakely, Ga. Davis has successfully litigated numerous cases in both the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia.
The nonpartisan race for Georgia Court of Appeals will be contested in the Nov. 2 General Election. For more information, visit www.votetoni.com.
