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Judge George honored as judicial pioneer

Akron Bar President Mike Robinson presents a plaque to Judge Joyce George, a judicial pioneer. Photo by Ashley C. Heeney/Legal News).

Judge Joyce George (center) with her son Attorney Mike George, sister-in-law Nancy Jackson, granddaughters Sarah George and Kate George and daughter-in-law Laura George. Legal News Photo/Ashley C. Heeney

ASHLEY C. HEENEY
Legal News Reporter

Published: February 3, 2012

Judicial pioneer Joyce Jackson George was honored Jan. 26 at the Akron Bar Association where attorneys and friends gathered during a monthly Sidebar social reception.

George, a retired judge who traveled from her new home in Flagler Beach, Florida for the reception, was presented a plaque on behalf of the bar for her pioneering achievements.

She was the first woman judge elected in Summit County, first elected judge in Akron Municipal Court where she served from 1975 to 1983, the first woman on the 9h District Court of Appeals, serving from 1983 to 1989 and she served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District after being appointed by President George H.W. Bush.

Akron Bar Association President Mike Robinson said George grew up in low income housing and didn’t have the advantages that many other attorneys did.

George first went to school for education and taught in the Akron public schools system as a single working mother. She enrolled in the night program at The University of Akron Law School. From 1966 to 1973, she was assistant director of law for the city of Akron.

“No one succeeds alone. You need a cadre of supporters,” George told the crowd, which included Pat Vance, her only female classmate from Akron Law, and Judge Mary Spicer, who was in school with them at the same time.

Two people she said helped her tremendously were Akron Attorney Don Varian and Judge Bill Baird, retired from the 9th District Court of Appeals.

George currently is an adjunct professor at Florida Coastal Law School, an arbitrator, mediator, private judge and an author. Her son Mike George is an Akron attorney.


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