Harold Nelson Hill Jr., former chief justice of Georgia Supreme Court
Former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Nelson Hill Jr. is remembered by colleagues as a hard-working, disciplined judge who established uniform rules for the state’s trial courts.
“He was a stellar member of the Supreme Court,” said Senior U.S. District Court Judge Willis B. Hunt Jr., also a former Georgia chief justice.
Justice Hill was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia in 1975, and served as chief justice from 1982 until his retirement in 1986.
He also served as chief executive assistant attorney general for Georgia and was in private practice at various times during his career.
Justice Hill, 80, of Atlanta died July 5 of cardiac arrest while under hospice care at his lake home in Cumming, said his wife of 57 years, Jane Fell Hill. She said her husband had been in declining health since suffering a stroke 16 years ago. He had a second stroke in January, she said.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta. H.M. Patterson and Son, Arlington Chapel, Sandy Springs, is in charge of arrangements.
Even before his Supreme Court appointment, Justice Hill was well regarded for his “intelligence and integrity, and his work ethic,” said professor Anne S. Emanuel of Georgia State University College of Law, who was a law clerk for Justice Hill from 1978 to 1986.
“He vowed that no one would ever outwork him and no one ever did,” she said.
State Supreme Court Justice George H. Carley said Justice Hill will be remembered most for working to improve Georgia's judiciary. In 1984, Justice Hill directed a project that established uniform rules for the state’s five trial courts: the superior, state, juvenile, probate and magistrate courts.
“It was his most important work,” Justice Carley said. “It made a big difference in how we hear cases.”
Justice Hill also chaired the Justice 2000 Commission, a group appointed by former Gov. Joe Frank Harris to improve the state court system.
Senior Fulton County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Manis clerked for Justice Hill in 1977-78. At the time, she was a 37-year-old mom returning to work, and was anxious to work for someone of Justice Hill’s stature, she said.
“He was very formal and scholarly, and I learned a tremendous amount,” she said. “He was responsible for giving an entire group of clerks their start in law.”
Justice Hill graduated from North Fulton High School in 1948, and from Washington and Lee University in 1952, magna cum laude. After two years of military service, he attended Emory University School of Law, and became its first honor graduate in 1957.
After his time on the Supreme Court, Justice Hill returned to private practice, and also served as a mediator and arbitrator. He authored “A History of the Supreme Court of Georgia: 1946-1996.”
He was preceded in death by a son, Ward Nelson Hill, in 1987.
Other survivors include a son, Douglas A. Hill of Smyrna; a daughter, Nancy P. Mills of Dunwoody; a brother, Robert G. Hill of Atlanta; and two grandchildren.
