THOMASVILLE — Always competitive, Solesse Lane (Sunny) Altman took it to a new level when she decided to be No. 1 in the University of Georgia School of Law 2016 graduating class.

Having heard stories for years about her father, Harry Jay Altman, finishing second in the 1975 UGA law school class, she decided to outdistance him.

When she completed the first year of law school at No. 1, the race was on.

Altman completed her UGA law degree from the University of Georgia as its 2016 First Honor Graduate. She graduated with a cumulative grade-point average of 4.13, ranked No. 1 of 198 students in the 2016 graduating class.

The daughter of Superior Court Judge Harry Jay Altman II and Gail Lane Altman, she is a 2009 graduate of Thomasville High School and attributes much of her academic success to the foundation she received in the Thomasville School System and “its many fine teachers.”

Altman especially appreciates Joyce Goggins, who taught her how to stand in line and share at Busy Bear, Melanie Chaveaux, who taught her the joy of reading for pleasure and introduced her to Harry Potter in third grade at Jerger, and Lynn Stowers, who taught her to write a sentence, paragraph and research paper at Thomasville High.

Altman received her undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, in 2013, with a major in politics and a minor in theater. While at W&L, she served as president of her sorority (Pi Beta Phi), a campus tour guide for the admissions office, alumni relations officer for Hillel and as an Honor Advocate with the W&L Student Judicial Council, where she counseled and advocated for students charged with conduct violations.

During law school, Altman served as the 2015-16 Executive Symposium Editor of the Georgia Law Review, as a Hearing Panel Member for Honor Court, as a UGA Law Dean’s Ambassador and as a teaching assistant and research assistant for two of her professors.

She gained valuable experience through internships with U.S. Congressman Sanford Bishop in his Washington, D.C., office and with Justice Robert Benham of the Georgia Supreme Court.

Altman was employed as a summer associate during law school with The Barnes Law Group in Marietta, Bondurant, Mixen & Elmore in Atlanta and the Atlanta offices of Jones Day.

She is spending the summer studying for the Georgia bar exam for which she will sit in late July. After the bar exam, she plans to take the month of August off, move to Atlanta, go on a cruise with her parents, and generally sleep late.

In September, she will begin a two-year federal judicial clerkship with the Honorable Richard Story, federal district judge for the Northern District of Georgia. She plans to join a firm in Atlanta at the conclusion of her clerkship.

During a recent employment interview with the Atlanta law firm, Altman was asked if she was competitive. Her response was to tell the interviewer that in elementary school she sold the most Girl Scout cookies in Thomas County for several years running. She got the job.

One day she hopes to return to Thomasville, the hometown she loves, to practice law in the firm started by her grandfather, Sol Altman.

In her spare time, Altman enjoys travel, musical theater, 19th Century American history and UGA football.

Thomasville attorney William H. “Bill” Blackburn said Altman has a bright future in the legal profession.

“She is an outstanding, wonderful young lady in everything she does, and everything she does, she does well,” Blackburn said.