Two lawyers seeking an open seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals said they like the change in court rules announced last week.

Former State Bar of Georgia president Ken Shigley and former Dougherty County district attorney Ken Hodges are the only announced candidates for the spot being vacated by Judge John Ellington, who is seeking an open seat on the state Supreme Court.

Shigley and Hodges both sounded approval for the changes, which included eliminating a rule requiring that six additional judges join three-judge panels that have split 2-1 on a case. The court now will issue 2-1 decisions, although they will be considered “physical precedent” only.

Shigley wrote in an email: “The Georgia Court of Appeals has a heavy caseload that, as a practical matter, has made it impracticable to hold routine conferences of panels regarding each case. I have always thought that was unfortunate. I have great confidence in the judges of the Court of Appeals who have made this rule change in reaction to the practical realities of managing their heavy caseload. Going forward, it is important to guard against allowing any change in process to diminish the degree of attention given to the merits of each case.”

Hodges wrote in an email: “The rule change allowing 2-1 decisions will bring the Georgia Court of Appeals into line with the majority of appellate courts. It will eliminate problems resulting from the intersection of our Constitutional Two-Term Rule (requiring appellate decisions by the end of the second term of court) and the prior requirement to go outside the original three judge panel for two categories of cases. This often required judges outside the original panel to consider and vote on cases with which they were unfamiliar with a very short time window, during the period known as 'Distress.' I believe this rule change will make 'Distress' less 'distressing' and hopefully help improve the already high quality of opinions from the Court of Appeals. It will make the process of the Court more efficient.”