J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award

Ruth McMullin serves as Chief Deputy Clerk in Gwinnett County, Georgia, a role that reflects the breadth of her legal experience and her commitment to public service. Her career has spanned private practice, service as a public defender in DeKalb County, and appointment as a magistrate judge.

Yet for all her professional accomplishments, McMullin’s most profound and lasting impact continues to be felt at Emory Law. For more than two decades, she has been a volunteer leader, mentor, and advocate — someone whose presence is woven into the very fabric of the student and alumni experience. She has served on the Emory Law Advisory Board, the Emory Law Alumni Board, and the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Alumni Advisory Board.

Her dedication is rooted in experience. McMullin understands the pressures of starting a legal career under the weight of significant student loan debt, and she carries that empathy into her advocacy for minority recruitment and retention. That’s why she made a personal commitment to support the newly established BLSA Alumni Scholarship, an endowed fund that assists first-year students who demonstrate leadership and dedication to the law school community.

What sets McMullin apart is her passion for mentorship. For decades, she has guided students and young attorneys with the kind of thoughtful encouragement and practical wisdom that can only come from someone who truly cares. Many of the students she once mentored are now accomplished attorneys, judges, and leaders themselves, each carrying forward the confidence she helped them cultivate. The Emory Law family is better because she is part of it.