Justice Sears to join law firm

Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears’ name has popped up on short lists of possible nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. But her immediate plans are to join a law firm, teach a law school course and work for a think tank.

“I’m going full steam ahead,” said Sears, 53, the nation’s first black woman to preside as chief justice of a state Supreme Court.

On Oct. 15, Sears will begin working in the Atlanta offices of Schiff Hardin, a 400-lawyer firm headquartered in Chicago. Sears will be a partner with the firm and work only half time during her first year there.

In October, Sears announced she would step down from the state Supreme Court when her term as chief justice expires at the end of June. She will be succeeded as chief by Justice Carol Hunstein.

The day Sears made her announcement she was leaving the court, Schiff Hardin “called and said they wanted to talk to me immediately,” Sears said in an interview.

Sears said she found the firm’s white-collar crime work very appealing. She will focus on general and appellate litigation, as well as corporate compliance issues, the firm said.

“Chief Justice Sears is a uniquely gifted lawyer and person,” Schiff Hardin chairman Robert E. Riley said. “It is a great honor to have her join our firm.”

Starting Aug. 15, Sears will serve as the William Thomas Sears Distinguished Fellow in Family Law for the Institute for American Values. The one-year fellowship is named after Sears’ brother, Tommy, who took his life in 2007 after returning from Iraq. He was 53.

While on her fellowship, she will teach a seminar, “Contemporary Issues in Family Law,” at the University of Georgia Law School.

Since U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter recently announced he will step down from the high court, Sears has been mentioned as a possible nominee.