Admission to practice law in another state may fulfill the Georgia Constitution’s requirement that potential judges “shall have been admitted to practice law for seven years.”

The Georgia Constitution provides that “[a]ppellate and superior court judges shall have been admitted to practice law for seven years.” Secretary of State Brian Kemp challenged Ms. Adrienne Hunter-Strother\’s candidacy for the Georgia Court of Appeals asserting that the valid date for determination of her eligibility was the date of her admission to practice law in Georgia, and not the date of her admission to practice law in New York.  However, the plain language of the constitutional provision included no requirement that the potential judge be admitted to practice law in Georgia.  Moreover, the legislative history of the provision indicated that the drafters did not intend to impose a Georgia-specific requirement.  Accordingly, Ms. Hunter-Strothers, having been admitted to practice law in New York eight years prior, was eligible to run for the Georgia Court of Appeals.