Dawn Jones (J.D. ’00) of The Firm of Dawn M. Jones, was installed as treasurer for the State Bar of Georgia in June; she served as secretary in the previous term.
The Executive Committee of the Board of Governors has the power to address issues and make decisions when the Board of Governors are not present.
“From setting annual dues to addressing state legislative issues to promoting the Bar’s focus for the year, everything we do is relevant and impactful to the practice of law,” Jones said.
Jones received the Bar’s 2017 Commitment to Equality Award to Promote Inclusion in the Profession, as well as the Justice Benham Award for Community Service. She was recognized for her ongoing community efforts, including mentoring law students and young lawyers, coordinating clothing drives, organizing nonpartisan voting rights programs and implementing events that support law students and younger lawyers. Jones said she is grateful for the opportunity to keep serving as an officer of the Bar.
“This work is important, and voluntary,” she said. “You want somebody who cares and who is going to work hard for the benefit of the Bar and the public. It’s an honor to represent and serve all members of the Bar.”
Antonio DelCampo (J.D. ’94), who serves on the board representing Stone Mountain Circuit, Post 3, was elected to the executive committee. DelCampo, a former judge in the State Court of DeKalb County, practices in all areas of litigation in state and federal courts, primarily representing individuals who have been injured by negligence, at DelCampo & Grayson.
Ana Maria Martinez (J.D. ’09), a staff attorney for Judge Dax E. López in the State Court of DeKalb County, was appointed by the president-elect to serve as the Member-at-Large Post 3 representative on the Board of Governors.
Martinez, who is co-founder and president of the Georgia Latino Law Foundation (GLLF), an organization dedicated to increasing diversity in the legal profession and the Latino community’s access to the legal system, would like to see the bar implement procedures to better track the diversity of its members.
“One goal of the State Bar should be to make substantive strides in diversity, but it is difficult to track progress if we don’t have benchmarks,” she said. “Right now, we don’t ask attorneys to self-identify their ethnicity. So, for example, we don’t know with any certainty how many Latino attorneys there are in Georgia. The board can have a direct impact by collecting such data. Once we have the data, the board committees that focus on diversity, as well as the different organizations around the state that work on the diversity pipeline, can set substantive goals that can be measured and evaluated.”
Martinez said she looks forward to meeting attorneys throughout the state and finding ways her skills and talents can best serve the board. “At GLLF, we talk to law students about their duty to lead and to give back to community, and it is my duty to be an example, to serve and to blaze the path for others.”
Joyce Gist Lewis (J.D. ’99) and Sutton Connelly (J.D. ’09) were also elected to the State Bar of Georgia Board of Governors. Read more here.