The School of Law will soon bestow the Distinguished Service Scroll Award, the Law School Association’s highest honor, on Michael B. Terry and Carla Wong McMillian for their outstanding dedication and service to the legal profession and the law school. Additionally, Andrew Z. Smith will be presented with the Young Alumni of Excellence Award.
Terry, a proud Double Dawg who earned his law degree in 1987, is currently a partner at Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, where he handles cases including high-stakes class actions, civil trials and appeals. He was a member of the plaintiff teams for the three largest verdicts in Georgia history.
Terry received the State Bar of Georgia Tradition of Excellence Award in 2024 and was named “Lawyer of the Year” for the state of Georgia by The Daily Report and American Lawyer Media in 2021.
Throughout his career, Terry has served the legal community in several capacities, including nearly 20 years as a member of the Atlanta Bar Association’s board, where he was president from 2010 to 2011. He also served six years in the ABA’s House of Delegates and spent a decade on the State Bar of Georgia Board of Governors. Terry is a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
McMillian currently serves as a justice for the Georgia Supreme Court, having been appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2020. A native of Augusta, Georgia, she is the first Asian Pacific American to serve on a state’s highest court in the southern United States.
Previously, McMillian served on the bench of the Georgia Court of Appeals and the State Court for Fayette County. Before joining public service, she was a partner in the litigation group of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan.
After graduating from law school in 1998, she served as a judicial clerk for Judge William C. O’Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
McMillian was a Woodruff Scholar at the School of Law. She completed her undergraduate education at Duke University, where she graduated with honors.
She is a current member of the law school’s Board of Visitors.
Smith, who graduated from UGA Law in 2017, is a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig with a focus on commercial litigation and dispute resolution. In this role, he advises a wide array of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to small entrepreneurs, on complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution.
Though early in his career, Smith has frequently been honored for his contributions to the legal community. He has been listed as part of Georgia Trend’s 40 Under 40 and a Rising Star in the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Leaders in Corporate Citizenship list. Additionally, he was shortlisted for the Chambers Diversity & Inclusion Awards: North America Future Leader honor.
He is an active member of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, where he has served on the National Leadership Council since 2022.
Smith also formerly served on the board of trustees for Quality Care for Children, and he is a previous president of the School of Law’s Young Alumni Council.
Recipients will be honored at the 2026 School of Law Awards Lunch on April 17.
Pictured above are award winners (top row, l. to r.) Mike Terry, Carla Wong McMillian and (bottom row) Andrew Smith.