{"id":27793,"date":"2022-01-16T06:46:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T06:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=27793"},"modified":"2022-01-16T06:46:00","modified_gmt":"2022-01-16T06:46:00","slug":"western-circuit-bar-remembers-state-court-judge-in-athens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/16\/western-circuit-bar-remembers-state-court-judge-in-athens\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Circuit Bar remembers State Court Judge in Athens"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]<\/p>\n

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) \u2014 When State Court Judge Kent Lawrence died in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had forced the cancellation of traditional funeral services.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Western Circuit Bar Association held a belated memorial service luncheon in Athens for the longtime Clarke County State Court judge who established Georgia\u2019s first DUI\/Drug Court.<\/p>\n

\n

Several family members, including his wife, Karlene Lawrence, attended the luncheon, where Lawrence\u2019s legacy in Athens was remembered by State Court Judge Charles Auslander and Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens.<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

<\/p>\n

Many University of Georgia football fans remember Lawrence as a star wide receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were a child growing up in Athens, Georgia, in the 1960s, Kent Lawrence was a household name,\u201d Stephens said about the man who became his close friend during their time with the judicial branch of law.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But after Lawrence\u2019s playing days in college and the NFL, he returned to Athens to obtain a master\u2019s degree while working for the UGA Police Department. In 1974, he became the first police chief for the newly formed Clarke County Police Department, according to Auslander, who described Lawrence\u2019s rise to a seat on the bench where he was appointed in 1986 to the judgeship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cHe realized he had a true love for the law and decided he would enter law school while he was working full time,\u201d Auslander said.<\/p>\n

But it was while working in law enforcement and then as a lawyer that Auslander said Lawrence became \u201ctired of seeing the same people coming before him with substance abuse issues\u201d with no other solution offered but more jail time.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 2000, Lawrence created the first DUI court, but with no such program in Georgia, he traveled to New York, Michigan and New Mexico to study how similar courts operated, according to Auslander.<\/p>\n

Today, the court has 17 probation officers to supervise more than 3,000 people, and Lawrence also installed a drug lab that can provide drug-testing results in a hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not an average person. He was not an average lawyer. He was not an average judge. He did not accept the status quo,\u201d Auslander said, adding \u201che blazed a trail that we now follow.\u201d<\/p>\n