Judge Walter Williams
One of the city's most colorful judges may go back on the bench.
The City Council on Tuesday is set to vote on the nomination of former City Court Judge Walter Williams as administrative hearing officer - a new city position.
The law license of the former judge was transferred to disability inactive status in August of 2015 after he suffered a stroke early in the year. The Williams family said at the time that he was still receiving therapy for his speech and his predominant hand.
Judge Williams said Friday night, "My mind is still sharp." He said he would dictate his opinions to a secretary.
He said he expects to be hearing cases three or four days per week.
They would be some of the environmental cases that are now heard by City Judge Sherry Paty.
He said the cases may be heard somewhere at City Hall or the City Hall Annex, but that has not yet been worked out.
City officials said an administrative law judge would be able to set fines up to $500 rather than the $50 limits on municipal judges.
Born in Chattanooga and raised in a housing project, Judge Williams achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a judge in March 1991. In his first political race, obtaining 56 percent of the vote, he won election as judge of the Chattanooga City Court for a term of eight years.
He was known for his "no-nonsense approach and unusual alternative sentences" that gained him national attention and honors.
Judge Williams practiced law with the Regional Counsel’s Office of the Internal Revenue Service in Atlanta prior to entering the private practice of law. In 1980 he became a partner in the law firm of McClarty & Williams in Chattanooga, where he primarily handled personal injury, corporate, estate and municipal law cases. He also taught for eight years as a full-time assistant professor of marketing and business law at UTC while maintaining a full-time law practice.
He created the first Environmental Court docket (1991) in Chattanooga to assist in cleaning up the city.
Judge Williams was re-elected to a second eight-year term in March 1999, getting 70 percent of the vote.
In 2003, he left the city judge post and became a senior partner in the law firm of McKoon, Williams, Atchley & Stanley, PLLC until he retired in August 2015.