From the President

• Publication year: 2009
• Pages: 0004

From the President Vol. 14 No. 7 Pg. 4 Georgia Bar Journal June, 2009

by Jeffrey O. Bramlett

Prosecutors Must Serve the People, Not Politics

All lawyers are called to serve the interests of both their clients and the public. For government lawyers, there is no distinction between the two callings. Their clients are the people of their community, their state or the nation. I have the utmost respect for these lawyers who pursue careers in public service, given that the choice to do so usually imposes the cost of income limitations unfamiliar to the private sector.

This is especially true of our fellow Bar members who serve as attorneys general, U.S. attorneys, district attor-

"The people of Georgia should be proud of the individuals we have enforcing the law in our courts."

neys, solicitors general or any other prosecutorial role. They represent their clients —the people of the United States, the state of Georgia or a particular jurisdiction — without fear or favor. They are unable to pick and choose their cases on personal or political preferences. Their only consideration is the high standard of justice in each and every case. When they decide to prosecute, they must do so wholeheartedly and with every resource available.

During the 2009 session of the General Assembly, I heard from a number of Georgia prosecutors who felt strongly that the State Bar was unfairly neglecting to include district attorneys' offices in our legislative advocacy efforts for adequate judicial funding. Their offices were already experiencing staff fur loughs and facing additional budget cuts. These prosecutors could not understand why the Bar was singling out other programs like the Public Defender Standards Council, the Georgia Appellate Practice and Education Resource Center and legal services for victims of domestic violence in our lobbying efforts but not their offices.

The fact is that while the State Bar was asked by representatives of those programs to advocate for their budget requests, the lobbyists for the Prosecuting Attorneys Council did not ask and in the past specifically requested that we not participate in their efforts. We complied with that request, but it should be noted that the Bar's legislative and public awareness initiatives on behalf of adequate judicial funding, including Bar-sponsored public service announcements on television, are intended to reflect support for the budgetary requests of our courts and all...