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State Court Judge
Information has been graciously provided by Judge Kent Lawrence in June 2006. |
| Electoral: |
- Non-partisan election for 4-year term (2006, 2010, 2014, ...)
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| Responsibilities: |
- To uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary
- To avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all professional and personal activities
- To perform the duties of my office impartially and diligently without bias or prejudice based upon race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status
- To regulate and limit extra-judicial activities which may detract from the dignity of my office or interfere with the performance of judicial duties
- To engage in activities designed to improve the law, the legal system, and the interest of justice
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| Budget: |
- The overall budget is $98 million, but the mayor's office spends a small fraction of that
- The majority of the money comes from property taxes
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| Qualifications: |
- A resident of the county in which he or she is elected to serve
- A resident of the state of Georgia for a 3 year period immediately preceding the beginning of his or her term of office
- At least 25 years of age
- Admitted to practice law for 7 years
- A fulltime judge may not engage in the private practice of law
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| Time Required/ Salary: |
- Criminal and civil case filings can vary from year to year. For example, in CY-04 there were 4,455 total criminal and civil cases filed in the court. In CY-05, there were 3,866 total cases filed. As a single court judge, it is my judicial responsibility to timely and efficiently schedule and dispose of such cases. Typically I arrive daily at the office between 7:00am and 7:30am and leave the office each day between 6:00pm and 7:00pm depending upon that day's court activities. Our court is always scheduled and booked for 4 to 6 months into the future. We are required to schedule inmate jail hearings, bond hearings, probation revocation hearings, criminal arraignment days each month, pretrial hearings, and criminal and civil jury trials.
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| Top Issues: |
- The court does not rank issues in terms of importance, as each case is important to the litigants appearing before the court. Thus, whether the case may involve vehicular homicide, domestic violence, battery, theft, cruelty to animals, elder abuse, theft related crimes, prostitution, cruelty to children, or other criminal behavior, the court has a responsibility to treat each with equal dignity and respect for the rights of victims of crime and the constitutional rights of offenders charged with such criminal offenses. The same equal dignity and respect must be afforded to litigants involved in civil cases (product liability, medical practice, personal injury, contract disputes, landlord and tenant actions, etc ...). A judge's responsibility is to provide a fair and impartial forum for the resolution of criminal and civil disputes.
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| Tidbits: |
- State Court Judges are required to frequently file financial disclosure reports of all compensation received and the ownership of all real property, a person's record of service, and any disciplinary record against such Judge
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