The Georgia Supreme Court has given an Amicus Curiae Award to Joel Wooten, founding partner of Butler Wooten & Peak, the firm announced Monday.

Chief Justice Harris Hines, along with Justices Keith Blackwell and Nels Peterson, surprised Wooten with a special honor Thursday during a meeting of the Columbus Bar Association at the Chattahoochee River Club in Columbus. The justices presented Wooten with a resolution stating he has had a “profound impact on the State of Georgia and its legal system” and is “described by his colleagues and friends as a quiet man of understated excellence, who is devoted and equally kind to people from all walks of life, who is always calm, well-prepared, and can be counted on to get the job done, and who never calls attention to himself.”