State Bar of Georgia - History - Move of Headquarters To Atlanta

Move of Headquarters To Atlanta

During Frank Jones' presidency of the State Bar, the potential benefits of moving the Bar headquarters from Macon to Atlanta started to become obvious to him. In addition to quarterly meetings of the Board of Governors that were held around the state and the annual meeting that was almost always in Savannah, there were meetings of the Executive Committee and various general and special committees and other meetings that Jones sought to attend. “The great majority of these meetings were held in Atlanta, with virtually none in Macon, because Atlanta was more convenient to a majority of attendees and the facilities were limited in Macon,” Jones said. “Madrid Williams or Judge Mallory C. Atkinson, our first general counsel, and sometimes both, usually accompanied me in traveling to Atlanta for such meetings and we would talk from time to time about the probable need someday to move the office to Atlanta.” Jones also noted that Atlanta was shedding its reputation as what he called “kind of a sleepy metropolis.” Starting in the 1960s, there was an explosive growth in the number of lawyers practicing in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and many law firms greatly increased in size.

In 1971-72, Jones served on the Governor’s Commission on Judicial Processes, chaired by Hon. Bob Hall. The panel’s recommendations resulted in the establishment of the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) as a constitutional body and the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) by executive order of each of Georgia’s governors. “The meetings of the JQC were invariably held in the Judicial Building because we reported our findings and recommendations to the Supreme Court of Georgia, and the meetings of the JNC were normally held in Atlanta as well,” Jones said. “This is another illustration of how Atlanta increasingly became the focus of the activities of the State Bar and related organizations.”

A Special Committee on State Bar Headquarters was appointed in 1970, with Jones as chairman and Ben L. Weinberg Jr. as vice chairman. Also serving were B. Carl Buice, Wilton D. Harrington, G. Conley Ingram, H.H. Perry Jr., Hon. Paul W. Painter and Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler, with then- Bar President Irwin W. Stolz Jr., A.G. Cleveland Jr. and Thomas E. Dennard Jr. as ex-officio members. In November 1971, the committee submitted its final report during a meeting of the Board of Governors, officially recommending that the State Bar headquarters be moved from Macon to downtown Atlanta because, in part, “Ideally, the headquarters should be reasonably close to the State Capitol area, as accessible as possible to those lawyers throughout the state who would enter Atlanta on the interstate and other highways, and at the same time not inconvenient to the large number of State Bar of Georgia members who have their offices in the business and financial district in Atlanta.” The fact that the State Bar had been authorized by the Supreme Court of Georgia, and its rules had to be approved by the Supreme Court, was another persuasive reason why the headquarters should be in downtown Atlanta and within reasonable proximity to the Supreme Court. The report acknowledged that the anticipated doubling of office space, addition of at least one more staff member, higher rental rates and salary scales prevailing in Atlanta and various other factors would result in a substantial increase in operating expenses. A dues increase would undoubtedly be required. One of the committee’s recommendations specified: “The State Bar of Georgia should not give any further consideration at this time to building its own headquarters building (as some other state bars have done).” Jones said, “That was a wise decision at the time, I believe. We needed to walk before we could run.”

After the committee’s recommendations were unanimously approved by the Board of Governors, the wheels were set in motion for the move from Macon to Atlanta. F. Jack Adams joined committee members Seiler and Cleveland in submitting a detailed report concerning costs and a proposed dues increase, which was approved by the board in July 1972. Increased expenditures were estimated at just over $75,000, necessitating a dues increase of $20 per year. The target date for opening the new headquarters in the Fulton National Bank building was July 1, 1973. By Feb. 9, the contract had already been signed, construction of the offices was underway and moving vans were packed and ready to leave Macon for Atlanta. Seiler, who was the State Bar president that year, recounted, in his endof- year report for the 1973 annual meeting, what happened next.

“I’ll never forget that day,” Seiler said of the planned moving day of Feb. 9. “Gus Cleveland, Jack Adams and I were in Cleveland, Ohio, attending the ABA National Conference of Bar Presidents. It was extremely cold in Cleveland, but the skies were clear. We knew that winter storms were harassing the South, and Gus and I had speculated as to whether or not the move could be accomplished. On the day of the intended move, I picked up a Cleveland paper and the headlines read ‘Heavy Snow Hits Macon, Georgia,’ and I knew darn well they weren’t talking about Cubbege Jr. or Sr.!” (Cubbege Snow was the name of a father-son legal duo in Macon, with a third generation having since joined the practice.) The snow melted a few days later, and the new office was fully occupied on Law Day, May 1, 1973, two months ahead of schedule.

Performing an integral role in the move was Madrid Williams, who had originally informed the officers of her intention to retire as executive secretary on Jan. 1, 1973, rather than make the move to Atlanta. “But she got caught up in the excitement,” Jones said, and instead of retiring, Williams wound up personally supervising the entire project, coordinating the moving and purchase of equipment, furniture and decorations, as well as interviewing and hiring new staff members. “Her help was invaluable during those first years after the move,” Jones said of Williams, who in 1970 became one of the first women to serve as president of the National Association of Bar Executives. She did retire in 1976, a full 34 years after opening the first Georgia Bar Association office. f

According to Jones, opposition to the move from Macon to Atlanta was virtually non-existent, and the only backlash he received from below Georgia’s fall line for having spearheaded the effort was some good-natured ribbing from his hometown colleagues. “When I accepted an invitation to become a partner in the firm of King & Spalding LLP in Atlanta as of July 1, 1977, several of my friends jokingly remarked that I was being run out of Macon because I had been instrumental in the move,” Jones said. “But I had realized it would be an easier pill to swallow if a past president from Macon was the one making the recommendation.”

Jones concluded, “In my judgment both then and now, it was essential that the State Bar have its headquarters conveniently located in downtown Atlanta in order to maximize its service to the lawyers of Georgia, the judiciary and the general public. Such a location provides ready access to the Supreme Court of Georgia, the Governor’s Office, the General Assembly and other governmental agencies with which the State Bar has dealings from time to time. It is also consistent with the extraordinary growth in the number of practicing lawyers residing in the greater Atlanta area.”