2018 Alumni Merit Award Recipient
Steve C. Jones
(BBA ’78, JD ’87)
Steve C. Jones is a United States District Court Judge, appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2011. In this role, he presides over cases that involve the United States government, the United States Constitution, federal laws, controversies between citizens of different states and other matters.
He graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s degree in Management from Terry College of Business in 1978 and received his juris doctorate from the UGA School of Law in 1987.
Prior to his nomination to the district court, Jones served as a superior court judge in Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties for 16 years. In this role, he presided over civil and criminal cases, as well as substance abuse treatment program. Judge Jones served as an Athens-Clarke County Municipal Court Judge (1992–1995), Assistant District Attorney for the Western Judicial Circuit (1987–1991), and Director of the Athens Child Support Recovery Unit (1978–1985).
Jones has offered his time and leadership to numerous academic, community, legal and social organizations. He is a managing trustee and secretary for the University of Georgia Foundation and a member of the University of Georgia Athletic Association Board. He is also a past president of the UGA Alumni Association and the UGA Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame. He is a former chair of the University of Georgia School of Law’s Board of Visitors.
He is a member of the Old War Horse Lawyer’s Club and the Lawyer’s Club of Atlanta, and former chair of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission and the Athens Area Community Foundation. Jones has served on the Georgia Supreme Court’s Commission on Equality and Domestic Violence Committee. He is also president of the Joseph Henry Lumpkin American Inn of Court.
Jones has won many awards for his judicial and community service, including the UGA School of Law’s Distinguished Service Scroll Award, the University of Georgia’s Fulfilling the Dream Award and the Blue Key Service Award. In 2007, he received the Volunteer of the Year Award, presented by the Junior League of Athens and Athens First Bank & Trust, and he was named Omega Citizen of the Year by the Zeta Beta Beta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Other awards and honors include: Leadership Georgia’s E. Dale Threadgill Community Service Award, the Chief Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service, the Gate City Bar Association’s Outstanding Jurist Award, the Association of Legal Professionals’ Legal Professional of the Year Award and the State Bar/Young Lawyers Division Judicial Service Award.
He has also been named an Honorary Member of the Blue Key Honor Society and a fellow of the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia, Inc. and a Rotary Club Paul Harris fellow. Jones lives with his wife, Lillian Kincey, in Athens, Georgia.