Edward Tolley (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

The Supreme Court of Georgia will honor Athens attorney Edward Tolley with a special award Tuesday for what the court calls his “wise and steady leadership” of the state’s judicial watchdog agency “at a critical time” in its history.

Chief Justice Harold Melton will present a resolution designating Tolley an “Amicus Curiae,” or “friend of the court,” for his work as chairman of the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

The JQC investigates ethical complaints against judges and recommends to the state Supreme Court disciplinary measures against judges that the commission finds violated the state Code of Judicial Conduct.

Presiding Justice David Nahmias, the high court’s liaison with the JQC, will thank Tolley for “his lifetime of dedicated and distinguished service to this state, our legal community, and our judiciary.”

The ceremony will take place before oral arguments begin Tuesday morning.

Tolley, a partner at Cook Noell Tolley & Bates, became chairman of the JQC in 2016 following the resignation of its former chairman and its executive director. Tolley took the helm while the Georgia General Assembly debated and subsequently placed on the 2016 ballot a constitutional amendment to abolish the constitutionally independent JQC and grant the state Legislature sole authority to reconstitute it and determine its governance.

Tolley was appointed by the State Bar of Georgia, which was later stripped of its authority to select members for the commission. Gov. Nathan Deal appointed Tolley to the reconfigured commission in January 2017.

Tolley became one of its most visible members while chairing the commission. He joined an ad-hoc committee Nahmias chaired that rewrote the JQC’s operating rules for the first time in its 40-year existence. That committee also drafted amendments that dramatically restructured the JQC based on an American Bar Association model and subsequently overhauled the Legislature’s first attempt to remake it.

Tolley’s two-year appointment to the JQC expired June 30. Gov. Brian Kemp named former U.S. attorney and congressman Bob Barr as Tolley’s successor.