State

Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who joined the Supreme Court in 1992 and went on to create the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law, will return to practicing law when her current terms expires this summer.

Sears will join the Atlanta law offices of Chicago-based Schiff Hardin, sometime later this year.

In the meantime, Sears will teach a seminar titled “Contemporary Issues in Family Law” at the University of Georgia law school, focused on changes in marriage and divorce, and exploring controversial family issues facing the legal system.

Finally, in addition to practicing law and teaching, Sears will join the Institute for American Values to serve for one year as the William Thomas Sears Distinguished Fellow in Family Law.

The fellowship is named in honor of the chief justice’s older brother who died in November 2007 at the age of 53.