2023 is the 50th Anniversary of the Judicial Council/Administrative Office of the Courts

Facts about the creation of the JC/AOC:

  • Then Governor Jimmy Carter sworn in the first members of the Judicial Council on May 4, 1973 as part of the recommendations made by the 1973 Governor’s Commission on Judicial Processes.
  • The Commission also recommended the creation of an Administrative Office of the Courts to function as a service organization which became a reality with the passage of Act 178, 1973 Ga. Laws 266.
  • Senate Resolution 12 also passed in 1973, proposing a constitutional amendment to unify the courts of the Georgia judicial system.

The first swearing-in of the Judicial Council of Georgia in 1973

Left to Right: 

  1. Governor Jimmy Carter
  2. Gus Cleveland, President of the State Bar of Georgia 
  3. Sonny Seiler, President-Elect of the State Bar of Georgia
  4. James O’Connor, Superior Court for the Oconee Circuit — the one who immediately resigned in Judge Followill’s story
  5. Ernest Tidwell, Superior Court of Fulton County, Atlanta Circuit
  6. Judge Kenneth B. Followill, City Court of Columbus
  7. J. Bowie Gray, Superior Court for the Tifton Circuit
  8. Walter McMillan, Superior Court for the Middle Circuit
  9. Robert Hull, Court of Appeals of Georgia — at the time, later Supreme Court of Georgia, and then a federal judge in N.D. GA
  10. William Kaye Stanley, Probate Court of Bibb County
  11. Hal Bell, Superior Court of the Macon Circuit

Absent: William Gunter of Supreme Court of Georgia

Also in 1973:

  • The AOC was created to function as a service organization, coordinating and assisting all the courts in their management problems. The job description for the first Director sought a professional court administrator who could operate under a broad-based policy-making judicial council.
  • After a nationwide search, James C. Dunlap, criminal court manager from Houston, Texas was hired as the first Director of the JC/AOC.


Read his letter from the first annual report.
The JC/AOC today:
  • The JC is chaired by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and includes 28 members who represent every class of court and the State Bar of Georgia
  • The AOC’s duties have been modified by statute over the years. See: GA Code § 15-5-24 (2021)
  • The current AOC Director is attorney Cynthia Clanton

Read our most recent annual report.
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