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UGA Law Associate Dean appointed to three NCCUSL committees

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Friday, September 16, 2005

WRITER: Kristin Kissiah, 706/542-5172, lawcomm@uga.edu CONTACT: Paul M. Kurtz, 706/542-7140, pmkurtz@uga.edu

UGA Law Associate Dean appointed to three NCCUSL committees

ATHENS, Ga. – University of Georgia School of Law Associate Dean Paul M. Kurtz has been named to three committees of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws by organization president Howard J. Swibel. Kurtz has worked with NCCUSL, a non-profit group whose 300 members review state laws and determine which areas of law should be standardized, since 2001, when Gov. Roy E. Barnes selected him to be a commissioner representing the state of Georgia.

Kurtz will serve on several of NCCUSL’s key committees, the most prestigious being the Joint Editorial Board on Uniform Family Law. The board monitors developments and proposes changes regarding family law-related uniform and model acts generated by the conference. Several of these acts have been extremely influential in the field of family law, including the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act and the Uniform Parentage Act.

He will also serve on the Drafting Committee for the Uniform Guardianship Interstate Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act as well as a committee designated to draft a uniform act concerning children who have been relocated due to divorce. Furthermore, he will maintain his position on the Drafting Committee for the Uniform Representation of Children in Abuse and Neglect and Custody Proceedings Act.

In addition to working with NCCUSL, Kurtz will continue his work on the executive committee of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. Composed of a delegate from each of the state’s 10 judicial districts and one public defender, the council is responsible for creating statewide standards for indigent defense programs and public defenders as well as operating circuit defender offices throughout Georgia.

An expert in criminal, family and constitutional law, Kurtz has been a member of Georgia Law’s faculty since 1975. He has served as the law school’s associate dean for academic and student affairs since 1991 and, in 1994, was named a J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law. Kurtz earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Vanderbilt University and his Master of Laws from Harvard.

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