Rome lawyer David Guldenschuh is on the list of potential candidates to fill the Georgia Supreme Court seat held by Justice Leah Ward Sears, who is retiring at the end of the month.

The state Judicial Nominating Commission will schedule interviews for June 29, and possibly June 30. A short list of as many as five recommended candidates will go to Gov. Sonny Perdue.

“They’ve already sent us a lengthy questionnaire asking about our background, skills and experience,” Guldenschuh said Monday.

Not all of the 47 candidates are expected to take the next step by returning their questionnaires by July 22. Former attorney general Mike Bowers, who chairs the Commission, has already declined his nomination.

Among the candidates are U.S. Attorney David Nahmias; state Rep. David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge; Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head; Paulding County Superior Court Judge James Osborne; and Yvette Miller, chief judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals.

A practicing attorney for 25 years, Guldenschuh has argued multiple cases in both the Georgia Supreme Court and Georgia Court of Appeals, as well as in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Texas.

He noted that only two of the seven sitting justices — Justices Robert Benham of Cartersville and Hugh P. Thompson of Milledgeville — are from outside the Atlanta metropolitan region. And the list of candidates to replace Sears is heavy on lawyers from urban areas.

“There are some very, very well-qualified candidates,” Guldenschuh said. “But I intend to emphasize to the Commission that they really need to send at least one name to the governor representing rural Georgia.”

Rome native Norman Fletcher was the last justice to retire from the court. He was replaced in 2005 by Harold Melton of Atlanta.

Guldenschuh has practiced law in Rome since 1989 and founded his own firm in 2004. Before that, he served as a law clerk in the Fifth District U.S. Court of Appeals and was an associate at the Atlanta-based international law firm King & Spalding.

Click here to see Judicial Nominating Commission questionnaire.