Keyes Fleming was honored on July 17 at GABWA’s annual gala and auction held at Atlanta’s Ritz-Carlton. The event is GABWA’s signature fund raising event with proceeds used to support GABWA’s scholarships, mentoring programs and pro bono legal services.
Keyes Fleming has been the DeKalb County District Attorney since November 2004. She was also DeKalb’s Solicitor-General being sworn into office in January 1999. She made history as the first African-American, first woman and the youngest person ever elected as solicitor-general in DeKalb County.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Douglass College, the all women's college affiliated with Rutgers University and earned her law degree from the Emory University School of Law.
Ward Sears is an American jurist and former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. She was the first African-American Chief Justice in the United States having been appointed in 1992 by former Georgia Governor Zell Miller. Ward Sears was the first woman and youngest person to sit on the Georgia Supreme Court.
GABWA was founded in 1981 and is a voluntary bar organization that focuses on women and children’s issues, increasing black female representation in the judiciary and in public offices. It also takes proactive stances on political issues. Through its foundation GABWA has provided $135,000 in scholarships to female law students and sponsors a number of community service projects.