a lum n i pr o fil e
L amar Sizemore ’74 Steps down fRom Circuit Court Bench, Looks to Phase III of Legal Career Selective Practice and Teaching on the Horizon
Roger Idenden photo
Appointed judge of the Superior Court for the Macon Judicial Circuit by Governor Roy Barnes in 2001, Lamar W. Sizemore, Jr., ’74, stepped down from the bench at the end of his term in 2010. But he’s not even thinking about retiring. “My attitude is that I am entering Phase III of my legal career, which will include mediating, teaching, and a selective practice of law,” he says. “I can’t imagine anything better.” The second of three generations of Mercer lawyers, Sizemore shaved off his ’70s-era mustache and long sideburns the day after he graduated from the Law School in June, 1974. His bosses at what was informally known as the Adams O’Neal Law Firm were two of his former adjunct professors: H.T. O’Neal, Jr., and Manley F. Brown. His original plan was to work in Macon for a few years, “then return to Atlanta to practice with my father in his firm, Heyman & Sizemore.” However, his father’s sudden death only six weeks after graduation changed his plans. Sizemore stayed, and over the next few years he and his wife, Sandy, “felt so at home in Macon and my law firm, we altered any plans of returning to Atlanta and chose to make Macon home permanently.” In his practice at O’Neal, Brown & Sizemore, he focused on personal injury litigation, and with Charles R. Adams III, he helped write and edit the GTLA Trial Practice Manual, first published in 1993. He served on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia starting in 1985 and is a past president of the Macon Bar Association and the Middle Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. And, since 1981, he has taught the class Problems in Insurance Litigation at Mercer Law School. Of all
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Mercer Lawyer | Spring 2011
the awards throughout his career, he says winning the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Law School “brings me the greatest pride.” After his 10 years on the bench, Sizemore has general advice for those who’d like to follow his path. “I am not sure that there is any particular way to prepare for a judgeship, other than to acquire as much legal experience as possible along the way,” he says. “When opportunities present themselves, I think a young lawyer would do well to try cases, argue appeals, write for publication, teach on law school or seminar faculties, and be active in bar activities on both a local and state level.” Like many before him, and since, Sizemore thinks his education at Mercer Law School gave him a distinct head-start in the real world. “I have heard lawyers from big firms in Atlanta say that the difference between a Mercer graduate and other law school graduates is that the Mercer graduate is better prepared to deal with clients, witnesses, opposing counsel and judges than are other law school graduates.” Leaving the bench after ten years (consisting of two years by appointment, and two four-year terms via election), Sizemore is looking forward to more leisure time, even if the word “retirement” doesn’t apply. He and his wife hope to spend pleasant days as grandparents in Anderson, S.C., and Memphis, Tenn., and to travel to their favorite place, coastal Maine. But it won’t all be down time. He says, “I would love to continue to work with law students and young lawyers in hopes that I can repay the debts of older lawyers, particularly Mercer lawyers, who guided me along the way.”