Each year, law students from all across the United States apply for summer clerkships, allowing students to gain firsthand experience of the judicial decision-making process alongside a sitting Judge or Justice. Being the most competitive and prestigious positions available, these hand-selected clerkships give law students and young attorneys the opportunity to learn about effective advocacy, legal procedure, and gain exposure to various areas of law; meanwhile being introduced to many practicing attorneys, judges and fellow clerks. 

Amongst the applicants, local resident Elizabeth Pirkle was selected for a clerkship with Presiding Judge John J. Ellington of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. As Judge Ellington prepares to assume his role as Supreme Court Justice in the spring of 2019, Pirkle was able to assist in reviewing his decisions and contribute insight to a wide array of legal issues. 

Pirkle plans on finishing law school in 2020. Upon her passage of the bar, she intends to sit as counsel alongside her father, Robert F. “Bob” Pirkle, at The Pirkle Law Firm in Hinesville.