Georgia legal community mourns loss of Judge Hugh Lawson

Daily Report
Hawkinsville Dispatch & News

To the Editor:

On behalf of the State Bar of Georgia, I am writing to extend condolences to the family, colleagues and many friends of U.S. District Court Senior Judge R. Hugh Lawson Jr. of Hawkinsville on his passing at the age of 82.

A Georgia Bar member since 1965, Judge Lawson began his legal career in his father’s law office in Hawkinsville and was appointed as one of the first two public defenders in the Oconee Judicial Circuit. In 1979, he was appointed as a Superior Court judge for the Oconee Circuit, serving for nearly 17 years, including a stint as president of the statewide Council of Superior Court Judges.

He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1995 to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. He served full-time until taking senior judge status in 2009. During his tenure as a federal judge, he served as chief judge of the Middle District, president of the Eleventh Circuit District Judges Association and as a director of the Federal Judges’ Association. 

Judge Lawson also served the community as chair of the Pulaski County Board of Education and a board member of the Georgia Board of Industry and Trade and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and as a trustee of the South Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

Judge Hugh Lawson will be missed and fondly remembered by his fellow members of Georgia’s legal community. We appreciate his career-long dedication and the many contributions he made through his service to the public and the justice system.

Sincerely,
 
J. Antonio “Tony” DelCampo
President, State Bar of Georgia