After Early Career Turns,ivy Cadle Settles Intostate Bar Pilot's Seat

• Citation: Vol. 30 No. 1 Pg. 0036
• Publication year: 2024
• Pages: 0036

After Early Career Turns, Ivy Cadle Settles Into State Bar Pilot's Seat Vol. 30 No. 1 Pg. 36 Georgia Bar Journal August 2024

Although he decided early on against a career in the law, Cadle couldn't resist the call of Lady Justice.

BY LINTON JOHNSON

2024-25 State Bar President Ivy N. Cadle, an aviation enthusiast, holds a multiengine commercial certificate with an instrument rating.

Jerry Cadle has practiced law in Swainsboro since 1975—three years before his son, Ivy Cadle, was born. Therefore, it might be natural to assume the son had always dreamed of following in his father's footsteps and becoming an attorney. It might be natural, but it would be wrong.

"No, it was quite the opposite," Ivy Cadle said in an interview shortly after taking office as the 62nd president of the State Bar of Georgia. His initial reluctance to pursuing a career in the legal profession, he said, stemmed from a memorably unpleasant "take your kid to work" experience when he was 15.

"I went along with my dad to the records room at the Emanuel County Courthouse," Cadle said, repeating a story he shared at the State Bar's Annual Meeting in June. "The thing that stuck with me as we drove off was that I was in the vault where the deed books were, and basically

Ivy and Leslie Cadle atop the Fickling Building in Macon, which houses Baker Donelson.

it smelled of old paper and cigarettes. And I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to spend their whole career looking at books. None of it appealed to me."

So he took an entirely different path, earning a first responder certification, then taking classes at the local technical school in Swainsboro and receiving an emergency medical technician (EMT) certificate while he was still a junior in high school.

"When I turned 18, I was fully qualified to be an EMT, so I started driving the ambulance to figure out if I could deal with the blood and...