The Georgia Supreme Court has revived a Rome, Ga., woman’s hopes of becoming a lawyer — about four years after she was blocked from taking the bar exam by authorities who claimed she had shown a disrespect for the law.
Monday’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling ordered the Board to Determine Fitness of Bar Applicants to issue a certificate of fitness to practice law to Marilyn Ringstaff. She is a nurse-midwife who founded a non-profit women’s health center in Rome but also works as a legal assistant in the health law area at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. The fitness board had denied her the ability to take the bar examination based on concerns related to the aftermath of a 2002 car accident, but Monday’s opinion says the record shows Ringstaff has the integrity and character needed to be a member of the Georgia Bar.
