To be considered for admission to GCAL, an attorney must be admitted to the State Bar of Georgia and must be a member in good standing of that organization. In addition, attorneys must agree to meet or exceed the ethics and professionalism standards established by the Supreme Court of Georgia and by GCAL. For more information about the GCAL Code of Ethics, please visit our Standards and Practices page.

The GCAL Board of Directors must approve all applications for admission to GCAL. Factors considered by the Board in determining whether an applicant shall be accepted as a Fellow are as follows:

(1)          Commitment to adoption practice in terms of duration and volume of adoption law practice. Specific Requirements include the following:

  • fifty percent (50%) of an applying attorney’s practice should be dedicated to adoption or adoption-related issues or the attorney regularly provides adoption services to clients in a geographical area that is underserved by full-time adoption attorneys; and
  • the attorney has acted as counsel in at least twenty (20) adoption proceedings in the one (1) year period immediately preceding the application for membership. Foster Care adoptions that require a finalization only, should not account for more than 10 of the 20 adoption proceedings.  However, if the attorney has not acted as counsel in the requisite number of adoptions, but he or she has achieved special competence in, or made significant contributions to, the advancement of adoption law or procedure, he or she may be invited to admission by a unanimous vote of the GCAL board.

(2)          Commitment to attend, in person or via videoconference, at least 50% of the meetings of the Association per year, and, notwithstanding the foregoing, commitment to attend in person at least one meeting per year (absent extenuating circumstances).

(3)          Commitment to attend or speak at the Association’s annual CLE.

(4)          Commitment to serve the Association in some capacity (as an officer, e.g., or by coordinating or participating in an Association committee).

Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis. The Board may, in its sole discretion, approve the application of an applying attorney if the Board determines that the applicant is deserving of membership because of his or her overall commitment to the practice of adoption law or otherwise determines that it is in the best interests of GCAL to admit the applicant.

Because GCAL is run by volunteer fellows who have to pay their staff, and because we do not wish to encourage fellowship applications by those who clearly do not have the minimum qualifications for membership, there is a Non-Refundable Application Fee of $75. Annual dues are $150. You may download a copy of the application.

Click here to download:  Application

For more information about admission to GCAL, please contact our Membership Chair:

Juli Wisotsky
Phone:  706-543-4678