Atlanta lawyer James Patrick "Jim" Kelly III has been appointed by the U.S. State Department to serve on the European Commission for Democracy Through Law.

Known as the "Venice Commission" for the Italian city where it meets, the international group is made up of lawyers, judges, academics and government officials.

Kelly's appointment became official last week. He will serve as the substitute member working with University of Notre Dame International Law Professor Paolo Carozza, who was appointed in March. They will serve concurrent four-year terms and attend the commission's quarterly plenary sessions in Venice, according to Kelly and an announcement on the commission's website.

"It is an honor and privilege to be asked to serve on the Venice Commission, and to participate in its influential work to strengthen democracy, constitutionalism, and the rule of law," Kelly said in a news release.

Kelly is the founder and president of Solidarity Center for Law and Justice, an Atlanta-based human rights and public interest law firm.

The Venice Commission serves as the advisory body on constitutional matters for the Council of Europe. The commission consists of 61 member states, including the 47 Council of Europe members and 14 other countries. The work is in three primary legal areas: democratic institutions and fundamental rights; constitutional justice and ordinary justice; and elections, referendums and political parties.

"Though not well-known in the United States, in Europe, lawyers, judges, national justice ministry officials, academics, and the media view the Venice Commission as an objective institution to which parties can turn to secure legal opinions on highly-sensitive and critically important constitutional and rule of law matters," Kelly said.

Since 2005, Kelly has served as director of international affairs for the Washington, D.C.-based Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He is responsible for European judicial and civil society outreach and for monitoring developments in the areas of human rights, rule of law, democracy, anti-corruption and national sovereignty. Kelly directs the Federalist Society's European Judicial Network, consisting of approximately 22 Constitutional Court judges from Central and Eastern Europe and 12 current and former members of the European Court of Human Rights.

Kelly founded and serves as general counsel for the Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program, a student scholarship organization under the Georgia Education Expense Tax Credit Program, and the Georgia HEART Hospital Program, which administers the Georgia Rural Hospital Organization Expense Tax Credit Program on behalf of the 58 participating rural hospitals. He is a past member of Georgia Board of Juvenile Justice and Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission.

The Venice Commission's membership listing described Kelly as a regular speaker and instructor at conferences in Central and Eastern Europe on freedom of religion and association, constitutional democracy, democratic evolution, international human rights, and the rule of law. He's the author of "Christianity, Democracy and the American Ideal," a compilation of the writings of the French-Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain.

Kelly has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since he earned his J.D. at the University of Georgia School of Law in 1985.