Randy Evans (from left), Chuck Efstration and Judson Hill. (Courtesy photos)

Thirty-four attorneys are among hundreds of candidates angling for a gubernatorial appointment to replace retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson next year.

The list of lawyers includes a current ambassador, a state representative, a former state senator, several current or former political operatives for Gov. Brian Kemp or President Donald Trump, several former partners from Atlanta's largest law firms, a smattering of former prosecutors and public defenders, and a slew of solo practitioners.

Prominent among them is Randy Evans, the current ambassador to Luxembourg and former Dentons partner whose client list has included former House Speakers Newt Gingrich and Denny Hastert, and former Georgia Govs. Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal. Evans has also served as co-chair of the state's Judicial Nominating Commission, the state election board, and the national GOP's 2016 convention rules committee.

Shortly after Evans was confirmed as an ambassador last year, Dentons paid him $268,581, including a pro rata bonus and a partial return of his capital investment as a partner, according to his 2019 financial disclosure report.

Also notable among the Senate applicants are:

• Former Georgia state Sen. Judson Hill, who lost his 2017 race for the Republican nomination to replace former U.S. Rep. Tom Price;
• State House Rep. Chuck Efstration—chairman of the House Non-Civil Judiciary Committee who managed several of Kemp's earlier political campaigns;
• Garland Hunt, former chairman of the state Board of Pardons and Paroles and former Department of Juvenile Justice commissioner; and
• Melvin Hill Jr., the longtime former director of the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson School of Government.

Prominent Republican lawyers missing from the list include Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, Isakson's former chief of staff; Rep. Doug Collins, ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee; former state Attorney General Sam Olens, now a Dentons partner; and current state Speaker of the House David Ralston.

Two of Kemp's young gun lawyers also haven't surfaced as possible nominees—Vincent Russo, a partner at The Robbins Firm who was legal counsel both to Kemp's campaign and inaugural committees and is the state Republican Party's chief deputy general counsel; and David Dove, Kemp's executive counsel who also served as general counsel when Kemp was Georgia secretary of state.

Also missing from the list: Joshua Belinfante and Ryan Teague, both attorneys at The Robbins Firm in Atlanta. Belinfante served as executive counsel to former Gov. Sonny Perdue, now the secretary of agriculture, and was on the ad-hoc committee that recommended federal judicial appointments to Perdue and Isakson. Teague served as Perdue's deputy executive counsel and as executive counsel to former Gov. Nathan Deal.

Former deputy White House counsel Stefan Passantino—who's now at Michael Best & Friedrich where he represents the Trump Organization—is also not on the list.

Byung J. "BJay" Pak, Trump's appointee as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that he didn't intend to apply.

Kemp announced last month that he was launching a public online application process where individuals could nominate themselves as potential candidates for the post. As of Tuesday, 546 people have applied, said Kemp spokesman Cody Hall. The governor hasn't set a deadline for submissions, and Hall said the application process is still open. He declined to comment on when the governor may choose Isakson's replacement.

Isakson, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2013, announced shortly after undergoing an operation for kidney cancer in August that he will leave the Senate at the end of December. Kemp has the authority to appoint a replacement for Isakson until  a special election for the post is held in November 2020.

The list of lawyers who have applied also includes:

• Michael B. Abramson: Atlanta solo practitioner, former assistant regional counsel at the U.S. Social Security Administration, president of the Atlanta Young Republicans and graduate of Emory University School of Law;
• Sherri Allen: Sandy Springs solo practitioner, former partner at Seattle firm Theiler Douglas Drachler & McKee and graduate of Indiana University School of Law;
• Heather Baker: Snellville solo practitioner with a J.D. from GSU;
• David Christian Belle Isle: Mayor of Alpharetta and a solo practitioner, a Republican Party district chairman and former secretary of state candidate;
• Richard J. Boyle: Solo practitioner, former robbery/homicide detective and graduate of Georgia State University College of Law;
•  Allen Buckley. A solo practitioner and former partner with the Saylor Law Firm, Smith Moore Leatherwood, and Troutman Sanders and University of Georgia School of Law graduate;
• Claude Davis II: A solo practitioner, former senior staff attorney for the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and University of Miami law graduate;
• Silvia L. Delamar: A solo practitioner who ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2004 and state Senate 2006 and a graduate of Quinnipiac School of Law;
• Brett Duvall: An associate at Atlanta's Scrudder, Bass, Quillian, Horlock, Taylor & Lazarus, former project manager for Georgia's Judicial Qualifications Commission graduate of GSU Law;
• Chuck Efstration: Partner at McGarity & Efstration, Dacula, state representative and chairman of the House non-civil judiciary committee;
• Steven A. Ellis: A Marietta solo practitioner, Cobb County assistant solicitor general and graduate of Atlanta's John Marshall School of Law;
• Ramses Frangie: An associate at Atlanta's Castro Law, former Fulton County assistant district attorney and GSU Law graduate;
• Peter Robert Garcia: U.S. Army Cyber Center for Excellence, Fort Gordon, adviser to the staff judge advocate, a former staff judge advocate, a former public defender and graduate of Delaware Law School and Widener University;
• Darice C. Good. A Roswell solo practitioner, former staff attorney for the Fulton County public defender's office and graduate of Mercer University School of Law;
• Thomas E. Gould: An attorney at Caldwell, Propst & DeLoach, Dunwoody, and Emory Law graduate;
• Judson Hill: Marietta solo practitioner, former District 32 state senator, former assistant U.S. attorney, former associate judge advocate general, Georgia National Guard, and law graduate of Mercer University;
• Melvin B. Hill Jr.: Former senior fellow in law and government for the Institute of Higher Education at UGA, former director of UGA's Carl Vinson Institute of Government, former staff director of the state General Assembly's Select Committee on Constitutional Revision and Cornell University law graduate;
• Garland Hunt: An Alpharetta solo practitioner and former commissioner for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, former board member and chairman for the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and Howard University law graduate;
• Tangela King: Director of Georgia Lawyers Continuing Legal Education and Mercer University law graduate;
• Steven Leibel: A Cumming solo practitioner among several attorneys who represented a social studies teacher in a 1994 constitutional challenge of Georgia's "moment of silence" law and an Emory University law graduate;
• William Llop: A Sandy Springs CPA who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the 6th District congressional seat in 2017 and John Marshall School of Law graduate;
• Patrick G. Longhi: Solo practitioner, former rules chairman for the Cobb County Republican Party and law graduate of Western State University College of Law;
• Rachel N. Mack. Staff attorney, City of Augusta Law Department, and law graduate of Ohio Northern University with a Master of Laws from Chinese University of Hong Kong;
• Justin M. Mullis: Associate at Atlanta's Hamilton Westby Antonowich & Anderson, former assistant district attorney in Fulton and Augusta circuits and graduate of Florida Coastal School of Law;
• A. Summy Orr III: Partner at Hartman Simons & Wood, former partner at Holland & Knight and law graduate of University of North Carolina School of Law;
• Gary Pelphrey: Partner at Pelphrey & Pelphrey in Marietta and law graduate of Woodrow Wilson School of Law;
• Scott P. Serafy: Macon solo practitioner and graduate of Mercer University law school;
• Vincent D. Sowerby: Brunswick solo practitioner with law degree from the University of Georgia;
• Thomas Stubbs: Decatur solo practitioner and law graduate of Georgetown University;
• William Knight Scott: Assistant state attorney general and law graduate of George Washington University;
• Jason M. Shepherd: Attorney with Kaiser Permanente, former senior project attorney with King & Spalding, former aide to retired state House Judiciary Committee chairman Wendell Willard and law graduate of John Marshall School of Law;
• James (Jim) Thornton: Mayor of LaGrange, partner at Thornton & Graham and Emory Law graduate;
• Darby M. Williams: Lecturer with Georgia Southern University, former San Francisco assistant district attorney, former Santa Clara County, California, public defender and law graduate of Western State University, Colorado; and
• Jeannie Zipperer: Staff director for Georgia Military College, former chair, college criminal justice division and social science department, former staff attorney for West Virginia Legal Aid and law graduate of West Virginia College of Law.