Mary Radford earns prestigious Verner F. Chaffin Career Service Award
July 27, 2009
ATLANTA — Georgia State University Law Professor Mary F. Radford is the newest recipient of the Verner F. Chaffin Career Service Award given by the Fiduciary Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. She joins only a handful of lawyers who have won this prestigious peer award.
"Mary is incredibly deserving of this honor," said Steven J. Kaminshine, dean of the Georgia State University College of Law. "Her law reform and legislative work in this area has virtually transformed Georgia law and policy. The Georgia Probate Code, the new Guardianship Code and the proposed Trust Code Revisions are among the major pieces of legislation that bear Radford’s hand print."
The award is presented occasionally in recognition of a distinguished career of outstanding, unselfish and dedicated service to fiduciary law and the citizens of Georgia. Past winners include William Linkous Jr., John A. Wallace, Judge Floyd E. Propst, and Verner F. Chaffin, a leading fiduciary law expert and University of Georgia law professor for whom the award is named.
"Mary is one of the most important fiduciary law professors in the state of Georgia," said R. Mark Williamson, an attorney with Alston & Bird in Atlanta, who is the fiduciary law section chair of the State Bar of Georgia. "The Career Service Award is given only when it's deemed appropriate. We are all big fans of Mary and she is one of our most stalwart members."
Radford's career in law began at the Atlanta firm of Hansell & Post (now Jones Day), where she practiced for three years. She joined Georgia State University's College of Law faculty in 1984, not long after the program began, and is considered one of Georgia's foremost experts in wills, estate planning, law and the elderly, and employment discrimination. She was recently appointed to the Catherine C. Henson endowed professorship at the College of Law.
Among her other career highlights: Radford spent a year as a Supreme Court Fellow for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist in the early 1990s. She is an Academic Fellow and Vice President of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel (ACTEC). Earlier in her career, she taught high school French and English.
"Professor Chaffin has been my role model since my early days as a law professor," said Radford. "He bridged the gap between academia and law practice. I am very honored to have received this award and to be included on the list of prestigious lawyers and judges who have received it before me."
Contact: Renee DeGross Valdes
University Relations
404-413-1353
rvaldes@gsu.edu