McBurney Steps Down As Head Of GA's JQC Hearing Panel: Supreme Court

ATLANTA, GA — The Hon. Robert C. I. McBurney is stepping down as head of Georgia's Judicial Qualifications Commission Hearing Panel, the Georgia Supreme Court announced Tuesday.

The JQC, which was reformed in 2016 and consists of 10 members, provides oversight of alleged misconduct by Georgia judges. The hearing panel adjudicates hearings once the JQC's investigative panel brings charges of judicial misconduct.

Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Brian Rickman will replace McBurney as presiding officer of the commission's hearing panel, the Supreme Court said. Rickman's four-year term as presiding officer starts Tuesday, the Supreme Court said.

“Serving on the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s Hearing Panel has been a highlight of my tenure as a judge. I deeply appreciate the opportunity the Supreme Court afforded me," McBurney said in a news release.

"I also appreciate the need to bring in new leadership so that the Hearing Panel can evolve as an institution. Judge Rickman is an excellent selection to guide the Hearing Panel and to improve on what we have built since its inception.”

McBurney, who sits on the Atlanta Judicial Circuit Superior Court bench, spent seven years as the hearing panel's presiding officer. He took over the role at the JQC after it was revamped in 2016.

“Judge McBurney has exemplified exceptional leadership by developing the Hearing Panel’s practices and operations based on an entirely new JQC model created in 2016,” the Supreme Court's Chief Justice Michael P. Boggs said. “Under his leadership, the Hearing Panel succeeded in implementing a new adjudication system for judicial discipline matters where every matter before the panel presented uncharted and new challenges.”

Boggs added he believes in Rickman's ability to "continue the good work of the panel."

Rickman has been a Court of the Appeals judge since January 2016 and was the court's chief judge from 2021-23, the Supreme Court said. He has also been a trial court judge and a district attorney for the Mountain Judicial Circuit.