ATLANTA — Retired Supreme Court of Georgia Chief Justice Michael P. Boggs of Blackshear was honored with the 2025 Distinguished Service Award, presented by the State Bar of Georgia during its annual meeting last month.
Boggs was honored for his 35 years of service in the legal profession and justice system, which included eight years as a Superior Court judge for the Waycross Judicial Circuit, four years as a judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia and nine years as a justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. He served as chief justice from March 2022 through his retirement from the court, which took effect on March 31, 2025.
“The legal community of our state owes Chief Justice Boggs considerable appreciation for his many contributions to upholding the foundational American ideal of equal access to justice for all,” said Ivy N. Cadle, the 2024-25 president of the State Bar of Georgia, in making the presentation. “In each position of leadership he has held, he has served not for ornament but for function, not for title but for task.”
The Distinguished Service Award is the highest accolade bestowed on an individual member of the State Bar of Georgia. The honor recognizes “conspicuous service to the cause of jurisprudence and to the advancement of the legal profession in the state of Georgia.”
After earning his law degree from Mercer University’s Walter F. George Law School and his admission to the State Bar of Georgia in 1990, Boggs began his legal career in private law practice and served as a county attorney and special assistant attorney general.
He has returned to private practice since his retirement from the judiciary.
During his service as chief justice, Boggs initiated ongoing efforts to improve judicial security, address Georgia’s civil justice gap and respond to the challenges and promises of generative artificial intelligence in the court system.
He also has served as chair of the national steering committee of Justice Counts, which works to improve the availability and utility of criminal justice data in policymaking decisions, as chair of the Judicial Council of Georgia, and as a member of the Georgia Criminal Justice Reform Council and the Georgia Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission.
