Cobb County Superior Court judges have chosen Marietta family lawyer Jeffrey Hamby to fill a vacancy on the Cobb County Juvenile Court.
Hamby, 51, is a senior attorney in the Marietta law firm of Huff, Woods & Hamby, with experience in domestic relations, divorce, child custody and wills and estates, according to the firm's website. He is also a mediator and has been practicing law since 1985, when he graduated from Georgia State University School of Law.
Hamby will fill the position to be left by Juvenile Court Judge Gregory Poole. Poole was elected this fall to the Superior Court in a three-way race for a rare open seat, created by the retirement of the county's most senior judge, Dorothy Robinson.
Hamby beat out 22 other candidates for the juvenile court job, said Superior Court Administrator Tom Charron. One candidate, death penalty defense lawyer Jimmy Berry, withdrew his name the week before the selection, telling the court he had open cases he could not conclude or transfer to another attorney, Charron said,
Hamby has the experience the judges said they wanted, including representing children in court as a guardian ad litem. He will be the fourth judge on a bench that includes Chief Judge Juanita Stedman, James Whitfield and Joanne Elsey. He will be sworn in Dec. 18 and take the job Jan. 1.
"I'm honored and humbled to have this opportunity," Hamby said in an interview. He added that he feels humbled because "I'm about to make decisions that affect folks for a very long time."
He said his experience as a mediatoroffers a foundation for the new job, as does his work in family law. He said he tries to help people see a broader perspective on their problems and offer hope for the future. "Not everything that's troubling is devastating," he said. "Except for a few things, the small things don't matter."
He said he's been thinking of becoming a juvenile court judge for several years. His goal for the people he sees in the job, he said, is this: "They only come in once."
—Katheryn Hayes Tucker
