Atlanta, Feb. 25, 2016 – Chief Justice Hugh P. Thompson of the Supreme Court of Georgia has
received the 2016 Alumni Meritorious Service Award from the Mercer University School of
Law. President Deron Hicks of the Law Alumni Association presented the award Friday, Feb.
19, during the annual alumni dinner at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead.

“This recognition is humbling,” said Thompson, who earned his Juris Doctorate Degree in 1969
from the Walter F. George School of Law of Mercer University, located in Macon, GA. “I owe a
great deal to Mercer. It propelled me on the path I took, and I am deeply indebted to the
institution and its people, who had such a profound influence on me.”

The Chief Justice, who resides in Milledgeville and is a native Georgian, was appointed to the
Supreme Court of Georgia by Governor Zell Miller on March 1, 1994. Prior to becoming a
justice, he was a superior court judge in the eight-county Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit, where he
served from 1979 to 1994 and was re-elected repeatedly. He served as Chief Judge of the
Ocmulgee Circuit from 1987 to 1994. Chief Justice Thompson also served as judge of the
Milledgeville City Court and judge of the Baldwin County Court, which is today known as the
State Court.

Today, Chief Justice Thompson serves on the Mercer University Board of Trustees, where he
was first elected in 2006. Last August, he was elected to the national Conference of Chief
Justices Board of Directors, which represents the highest judicial officers from every state in the
country, as well as from the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

The Meritorious Service Award is given to an alumnus or alumna of the Mercer University
School of Law who has demonstrated support of the Law School through the contribution of
time and gifts.

Past recipients include former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell.