Stanton Law Notice of Appearance
Filed 2026-01-07 · By Lucas W. Andrews & Erika Pitzel, Stanton Law LLC · Document type Notice of Appearance (NoA — the formal “I’m the lawyer on this case” filing) View the PDF →
Legal shorthand in this page: MM = Macon Melody (the newspaper plaintiff — NOT an attorney). BCSD = Bibb County School District. Ga. Bar # = Georgia State Bar number (the attorney’s official ID). FERPA = Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (federal student-privacy law). IDEA = Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (federal special-education law). MSJ = Motion for Summary Judgment (asking the judge to rule without a trial). MPSJ = Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (same, for part of the case).
What is this document?
On January 7, 2026 — nearly five months after BCSD’s (the Bibb County School District’s) defense team appeared — two new attorneys from an Atlanta firm called Stanton Law LLC filed a notice entering their appearance for the plaintiff, Georgia Trust for Local News LLC d/b/a (doing business as) The Macon Melody. The two attorneys are Lucas W. Andrews and Erika Pitzel.
Up to this point, the Macon Melody had been represented by attorney Joy Ramsingh of Ramsingh Legal, a solo practitioner based in Macon. As of this filing, Stanton Law is on the case. The following day (January 8, 2026), a separate Substitution of Counsel formalizes Ramsingh’s withdrawal — but for one day there were technically three attorneys on the plaintiff’s side, because this notice lands first.
This filing, standing alone, does not remove Ramsingh. A Notice of Appearance adds lawyers; it does not subtract them. The full hand-off requires the companion substitution document, which is why the two filings arrive back-to-back.
At a glance
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Filed | January 7, 2026 |
| Filed by | Lucas W. Andrews (Ga. Bar No. 019533 — his official Georgia State Bar ID) and Erika Pitzel (Ga. Bar No. 752242), Stanton Law LLC (Atlanta) |
| Document type | Notice of Appearance |
| Filed for | Plaintiff — Georgia Trust for Local News LLC d/b/a The Macon Melody |
Deep dive — legal concepts, explained
What is Stanton Law LLC?
Stanton Law LLC is an Atlanta-based law firm. Its practice is oriented toward business and employment matters, and it handles complex civil litigation for businesses and individuals. In this case, Stanton is stepping into a public-records fight that has First Amendment and state-sunshine-law dimensions — a meaningful matter for a small newspaper to pursue, and not the kind of litigation a solo practitioner necessarily wants to carry alone into summary-judgment and appellate territory.
Atlanta-based counsel entering a Macon case also brings geographic reach. The Macon Melody’s original counsel, Joy Ramsingh, is based in Macon itself. Stanton is roughly 85 miles north in Atlanta. That matters procedurally — appellate practice, if this case reaches the Georgia Court of Appeals (whose decisions are published in the “Ga. App.” reporter — a reporter is a book of published court decisions, and a citation like “300 Ga. App. 123 (2009)” means volume 300, page 123, decided 2009), is centered in Atlanta — and it matters for resourcing — a larger firm can staff multiple lawyers on briefing, something the reader will see immediately with Andrews and Pitzel appearing together.
Andrews and Pitzel — the new team
Lucas W. Andrews (Ga. Bar No. 019533) is the senior attorney on the Stanton team. His low bar number — five digits, versus the six-digit numbers of more recently-admitted lawyers — indicates a long career in Georgia practice.
Erika Pitzel (Ga. Bar No. 752242) is the second attorney on the notice. Her higher bar number is consistent with a more recently-admitted attorney, fitting the typical pattern of a senior attorney working with associate-level co-counsel on briefing and discovery.
Together they mirror the defense’s staffing: two attorneys from a named firm, splitting lead and support roles. For the first time in this case, the plaintiff’s side is staffed comparably to the defense’s — which changes the motion-practice dynamic from one solo plaintiff’s lawyer against two defense lawyers, to two against two.
Why upgrade counsel mid-case?
Swapping counsel in the middle of a lawsuit is allowed but notable. Common reasons include:
- Scope mismatch. A case that looked like a simple records dispute has grown into a motion-heavy, statute-construing fight over FERPA and IDEA. A firm with more bench depth may be better positioned to carry it forward — especially if appeal is contemplated.
- Upcoming milestones. The plaintiff filed a Partial Motion for Summary Judgment (MPSJ — a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment asks the judge to decide part of the case without a trial) on March 10, 2026 — about two months after this substitution. A motion that asks the judge to decide the case (or a big piece of it) without a trial requires intensive briefing. Bringing on Stanton before the MSJ (Motion for Summary Judgment) means the new team drafts the motion themselves, rather than inheriting a brief they did not write.
- Client preference. The plaintiff entity’s principal, DuBose Porter, is a former state legislator and longtime newspaper publisher. He may have wanted counsel better situated for press and appellate work.
- Capacity. Ramsingh is a solo practitioner. Solos routinely hand off cases that balloon in scope — not because of any dispute, but because the workload stops fitting.
The public record does not say which reason drove this particular substitution, and no inference of conflict should be drawn. The companion substitution paperwork, by its structure, signals an amicable hand-off rather than a firing. (See the Substitution page for that analysis.)
What “MM” actually means in the filename
A small but important clarification: the filename of this document is 260107_MM_Notice_of_Appearance.pdf. On first glance, a reader might assume “MM” is an attorney’s initials — the way “BDB” (Bennett D. Bryan) and “CLS” (Caroline L. Scalf) were earlier in the docket. It is not.
“MM” here stands for Macon Melody — the plaintiff newspaper, not an attorney. Stanton’s file-naming convention tags documents with the client or case nickname, not the drafting attorney’s initials. You will see the same “MM” convention in the filename of the next day’s Substitution of Counsel document.
This matters for anyone reading the docket quickly: filename conventions vary firm-to-firm, and they are informal metadata, not a reliable signal of who drafted or signed a given pleading. Always look inside the document for the real signature block.
Why this matters
This filing is the moment the plaintiff’s side scales up. Five months earlier, the Melody was represented by a solo lawyer responding to a two-attorney Parker Poe defense. Starting January 7, 2026, it has its own two-attorney Atlanta team. That changes the resource balance going into the spring motion practice — and it happens just before the plaintiff files the Partial Motion for Summary Judgment that will push the case toward a merits ruling.
Read the original
Part of Court Filings · Case No. 2025-CV-083495 · Bibb County Superior Court