PEEPLES v. BRAZELL (2019)

Order of the Court.

Shortly after I became a Justice of this Court in August 2009, I issued a statement to provide notice that I would presumptively disqualify myself from any case in which attorneys from the law firm King & Spalding LLP were actively representing a party before this Court because my wife, Catherine M. O’Neil, was an equity partner in that firm. See Friends of the Chattahoochee, Inc. v. Longleaf Energy Assocs., LLC, 285 Ga. 859, 863, 684 S.E.2d 632 (2009) (statement regarding recusal of Nahmias, J.). My beloved wife passed away on October 1, 2017, and since the end of 2018 I have had no financial or other disqualifying relationship with King & Spalding as a whole. Because I announced my recusal position in Friends of the Chattahoochee, it is appropriate for me to announce that I have now changed that position and will determine whether to participate in a case in which King & Spalding attorneys represent a party before this Court using the same standards I use with regard to other law firms and their lawyers. Having done so in this case, in which King & Spalding lawyers represent the respondent, I have determined that it is appropriate for me to participate. I do not expect to explain my reasons for participating or not participating in particular cases in the future. See id. at 860, 684 S.E.2d 632.

Nahmias, Presiding Justice, statement regarding recusal.