‘All I ever knew that daddy and granddaddy did was help people,’ new judge says. He wants to follow suit.

As a 6-year-old boy growing up in Lizella, David Mincey III went fishing with his father and a few other men.

During one outing, with his pole in the water, he watched and listened as an older man told his father he worried about what would happen to his house when he died.

His father went to his truck and got a yellow pad of paper and a blue pen.

Sitting on a bucket by the creek, David Mincey Jr. wrote out a will for the man.

The younger Mincey grew up knowing that when people had problems, they came to see his father and his grandfather, both lawyers.

“All I ever knew that daddy and granddaddy did was help people,” he said.

Although he didn’t know how he’d accomplish it, he wanted to continue that family tradition.

Mincey, 43, is set to be sworn in Monday as the Macon Judicial Circuit’s newest Superior Court judge.

Gov. Nathan Deal appointed Mincey to fill the seat vacated by Judge Tripp Self when Deal appointed Self to the Georgia Court of Appeals late last year. The Macon circuit includes Bibb, Crawford and Peach counties.

Mincey, the owner of the Mincey and Mincey law firm in Roberta, said the framed, handwritten will his father wrote in April 1980 is among the items he’ll bring with him when he starts his new job.

“To me, that was the epitome of what our family does,” he said. “It’s a good reminder of why we do what we do.”

Building a career

After graduating from Macon’s Stratford Academy, Mincey went to the Georgia Institute of Technology and studied business. He worked for a credit card company in Columbus after graduating in 1996.

It was important to David Mincey Jr. that his son’s profession wasn’t chosen for him, his son said.

The first two years Mincey worked in Columbus, he returned home during dove hunting season and told his father he wanted to go to law school. The elder Mincey told him that he should keep his job. It was a good one with good benefits.

When Mincey came home the third year, he handed his dad his acceptance letter to Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law.

“He wanted it to be my decision and it was,” Mincey said.

A fifth-generation Mercer University graduate, he’ll also bring his great-great-grandfather’s 1868 Mercer diploma when he moves into the courthouse.

After his graduation, Mincey was hired at Macon’s Sell & Melton law firm.

He was paired with Self in 2003, the judge he’s now replacing on the bench.

The two worked together until Self was elected a judge in 2006 and Mincey joined his father’s firm in Roberta.

Five years later, the older Mincey handed the baton to his son to lead the firm. Mincey hired another lawyer, Joel Sherlock, to work with him.

In 2009, Mincey became Crawford County’s attorney. He’s also represented Roberta, Butler and Reynolds while taking on other clients, representing them in a broad range of legal areas.

Mincey said he thinks he can do more to help people — the part of practicing law he enjoys most — as a judge than he could as a lawyer in Roberta.

Self, who remained friends with Mincey after the two left Sell & Melton, described Mincey as “empathetic,” “extremely personable” and as someone with a broad base of legal experience.

“David has common sense. He has a good heart and he’s got experience dealing with real people in real situations and solving problems,” Self said. “At the end of the day, that’s really what judges do. They solve problems.”

Passion for the community

When Mincey isn’t practicing law, he’s spending time with his wife, Tracie, and their four children, 13-year-old Anna, 11-year-old Eleanor and 8-year-old twins David and William.

He’s a member of Highland Hills Baptist Church in Macon and sings with the Macon Civic Club.

After being appointed to the bench, Mincey resigned his position on the governing board for Macon’s Academy for Classical Education.

Lee Gillis, a Macon attorney who sat on the board with Mincey, said Mincey has “tireless energy to make sure everything is done right and every stone is turned over and looked at to make sure students are getting the best possible education.

“He’s the guy that always has an idea to make things better,” Gillis said. “He’s a great guy and he has a passion for his community.”

Mincey said Sherlock will remain at the firm in Roberta when he moves to the courthouse in Macon.

When Mincey is sworn in, his father will introduce him. His wife will hold a family Bible that once belonged to his great-grandfather, R.J. Mincey, who was a pastor.

“It’s an incredible opportunity that comes with an incredible responsibility,” Mincey said of his new post. “I just pray every day that I can live up to it and do a good job.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2017 at 6:38 PM with the headline "‘All I ever knew that daddy and granddaddy did was help people,’ new judge says. He wants to follow suit.."