Leah Ward Sears was born in Heidelberg, Germany, in an American army base where her father had served. When the family returned to the US, they settled in Savannah, Georgia. Growing up in the deep south, she witnessed civil rights landmarks created by the US Supreme Court, such as declaring the segregated schools as unconstitutional and ending legal restrictions on interracial couples’ marriages. She was inspired by the law and saw it as a path to make a change. After graduating high school, she attended Cornell University and then continued to study law at Emory University School of Law. In later years she received a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia School of Law.
At age 25, Sears began to practice law at Alston & Bird law firm in Atlanta, where she worked for five years before she was appointed to the city’s Traffic Court. At the age of 33, she was appointed as a Superior Court judge, becoming the first African-American woman to serve in this position in Georgia. In 1992, she became the youngest person to be appointed as a state Supreme Court justice, and 12 years later, she became the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Court.
After the four-year term, Ward Sears resigned from court and returned to private legal practice, in addition to teaching law courses at several academic institutes. Over the years, she served on boards and committees of various organizations. She founded the Battered Women’s Project of Columbus, Georgia, and was the first president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.
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