Superior Court Administration
Judge Mary E. Staley
Staff Attorney - Staci Swit (770) 528-1818
Administrative Assistant - Charlotte Rooks (770) 528-1816
Fax Number- (770) 528-1821
Judge Staley was first elected in 1992 to the Superior Court of Cobb County. Judge Staley graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of West Georgia in 1975. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1978. After graduating from law school, Judge Staley served as an Assistant District Attorney for Cobb County. She was elected Magistrate Judge of Cobb County in 1982, and then elected State Court Judge, Division I in 1984. Judge Staley served as a State Court Judge, Division I until she was elected Superior Court Judge in 1992.
Judge Staley is actively involved in many civic and professional organizations. She was selected to be a member of the 1996 Class of Leadership Georgia. She is co-author of Georgia Jurisprudence Family Law. She was the 2001 recipient of the Joseph T. Tuggle Professionalism Award, Family Law Section, State Bar of Georgia. She was recognized by the Cobb County Y.W.C.A as its 1994 Woman of Achievement. She serves on the Editorial Board of the State Bar of Georgia Bar Journal and the Board of Trustees for the State of Georgia Institute of Continuing Legal Education.
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Judge James (Jim) G. Bodiford
Staff Attorney - Leanne Dolin (770) 528-1857
Administrative Assistant - Jan Porter (770) 528-1822
Court Reporter - Sally Dixon (770) 528-1856
Fax Number- (770) 528-8141
Judge Bodiford was elected in July 1994 as a Superior Court Judge and has since been re-elected three times to this position. He served as the Chief Judge of the Cobb Superior Court during 2005-2006. In his last election, Judge Bodiford received almost 83% of the total vote. The Judge graduated from Mercer University with a B.A. Degree and John Marshall Law School with a J.D. degree. He is also a graduate of the National Judicial College.
Prior to this service, Judge Bodiford was appointed as the Chief Magistrate Judge for Cobb County when he was 35 years old. He served in this position from 1985 until 1994. He is well known for conducting Georgia’s First Drug Court and completing over 500 felony cases which eliminated a backlog. He was also the trial judge for the two month death penalty trial of ex-lawyer Fred Tokars and the month long murder trial of Lynn Turner, the alleged anti-freeze murderer. Both cases were televised live, gavel to gavel, on Court TV. In addition to these murder trials, Judge Bodiford presided over and successfully completed the internationally covered Tri-State crematory case involving Ray Brent Marsh. In addition, he was recruited and successfully completed the courthouse shooting case in Fulton County involving Brian Nicholes.
Judge Bodiford also served as the Powder Springs Municipal Court Judge. Before going on the bench, Judge Bodiford served as a trial attorney for the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office and was also in private practice in Marietta, Georgia. Judge Bodiford is active in civic and charitable organizations. He is the past president of the Marietta Metro Kiwanis Club and is the prior Chairman of the Board of the Cobb unit of the American Cancer Society. His is also an alumnus of Leadership Cobb.
Judge Bodiford grew up in Cobb County and now lives in the City of Marietta. He is married to the former Nancy May and he has one son. Judge Bodiford is the Past-President of the Council of Magistrate Court Judges of Georgia. Additionally, he was appointed by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia to the Supreme Court Committee on Substance Abuse and the Court’s Commission and was a charter member of the state-wide Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission.
Judge Bodiford has been a frequent lecturer across the State of Georgia to lay people, attorneys, and other judges, and serves on the faculty of the Institute of Continuing Judicial Education in Georgia. He has also served as a Faculty Advisor at the National Judicial College located at the University of Nevada. During 2002 and 2003, Judge Bodiford traveled to Estonia and Bosnia on four occasions on behalf of the United States to teach the American Justice System to European judges in those countries.
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Judge S. Lark Ingram
Staff Attorney - Mary Catherine Begnaud (770) 528-1833
Administrative Assistant – Debbie Brock (770) 528-1831
Court Reporter – Rhonda Eubanks (770) 528-1832
Fax Number – (770) 528-1834
Judge S. Lark Ingram was appointed as a Superior Court Judge of Cobb County on November 21, 1995. She qualified without opposition for re-election in July 1996 and in 2000 and in 2004. Previously, Judge Ingram was appointed as a State Court Judge of Cobb County in May 1991. She was re-elected to the State Court bench in July 1992 and served until November 21, 1995. Prior to her service as a State Court Judge, from 1980 to 1991, Judge Ingram served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the United States Department of Justice in the Northern District of Georgia. Judge Ingram graduated from Marietta High School in 1971, Emory University in 1975 and University of Georgia School of Law in 1978
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Judge Ingram is a life-long resident of Cobb County and is active in such civic organizations as: Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society, (Board Member); Alumni Council, Oxford College of Emory University, (Past Member); Leadership Cobb Alumni Association (Past Member, Selection Committee; Past Chair, Law Enforcement Day; Politics Day); Cobb Chamber of Commerce (Past Member Public Safety Committee; Cobb Executive Women; Focus Cobb); Former Board Member, YMCA of Cobb County; Past Board Member, YWCA; Honoree, YWCA Women of Achievement – 1992; Kiwanis Club of Marietta, Inc. (Past Board Member); Past Advisory Board Member, Charter Bank & Trust; Past Board Member, Board of Trustees, The Walker School; Past Board Member, The Walker School Association; Past Chair of Founder’s Day Cobb Family Resources; Junior League of Cobb-Marietta (former Board Member); Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art (former Board Member); American Association of University Women – “Cobb Woman of the –1992”; Cumberland Jaycees’ Candidate for one of the five Outstanding Young Georgians- 1991; Member, First United Methodist Church of Marietta.
She is also a member of these professional organizations: State Bar of Georgia; Past member of the Council of State Court Judges; Member of the Council of Superior Court Judges; Former Chair, Board of Visitors, University of Georgia School of Law; Former Alumni Council Member, University of Georgia School of Law; Master of the Inn, Joseph Henry Lumpkin Inn of Court; Cobb Bar Association (Past Chair, Speakers Bureau) (Law Day Committee) (Former Trustee); Atlanta Bar Association (past president of the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers) (Past Chair, Law Day) (Committee of the Year Award ‘92-93); Past Member, Board of Trustees of the Trial Judges and Solicitors Retirement Fund.
Judge Ingram and her husband, Daniel V. Pompilio, III, live in Smyrna, Georgia. Their daughter is married and after receiving her Masters in Education at Samford University, resides and teaches in Birmingham, Alabama.
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Chief Judge Robert E. "Rob" Flournoy, III
Staff Attorney - Matthew Freedman (678) 581-5402
Administrative Assistant: Christa Flint (678) 581-5400
Court Reporter: Alison Jordan (770) 528-8136
Fax: (678) 581-5407
Judge Flournoy
Spouse: Julie Beazel Flournoy
Children: Trent, Rachel
Personal History:
Judge Flournoy, III was born August 22, 1952 in Atlanta, Georgia. He moved to Marietta in 1957, and attended the Marietta Public School System. He graduated from Marietta High School in 1970.
Judge Flournoy graduated from:
- University of GA – BBA, 1974. Magna Cum Laude, Beta Gamma Sigma & Phi Kappa Phi
- University of GA – J.D., 1979. Cum Laude
- University of Nevada, National Judicial College: Graduated, 2001
Judge Flournoy, III engaged in the private practice of law in Cobb County for 20 years at 236 Washington Avenue Marietta, Georgia 30060 handling general, civil, and criminal trial and appellate cases in all courts, with a concentration in family law matters. He was appointed by Governor Barnes on July 14, 2000, to fill the Ninth Superior Court Judgeship.
Civic Activities:
Vice Chairman of Board of Trustees – Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art (1998 – Present)
Past Member and Chairman – Downtown Marietta Development Authority (1990-2000) and Board of Historic Review
Former Member of the Board of Directors – Premier Bancshares, listed on (1997 – 2000) New York Stock Exchange
Founding Member of Board of Directors – First Alliance Bank (1985 – 1997) Chairman, Audit Committee
Judge Flournoy, III is a Member of the Marietta Kiwanis Club, the First United Methodist Church, and the State Bar of GA, Cobb Bar Assoc., and GA Trial Lawyers Assoc.
Please note: Effective January 1, 2009, Judge Flournoy will require all pro se litigants in domestic cases to attend the Cobb County Family Law Workshop before being issued a court date. Please contact ADR at 770-528-8100 for registration information.
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Judge Adele Grubbs
Law Clerk - Casey Woods (770) 528-1827
Administrative Assistant - Kimberly Carroll (770) 528-1826
Court Reporter – Paul Crowder (770) 528-1828
Fax Number- (770) 528-1830
Professional Background
Admitted to the State Bar of Georgia October 1969. Admitted to all Georgia and Federal Courts. Trial Lawyer in Cobb County from 1969, with two years as an Assistant District Attorney, until appointed to Juvenile Court Bench in January 1996. Elected to the Superior Court bench in 2000, and re-election without opposition in 2004 & 2008.
Bar Activities
Master of the Weltner Family Law Inn of Court, Chair of Special Committee on Family Law of the Council of Superior Court Judges, Sustaining member of the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia. Past President of the Cobb Division of the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers. Speaker at Institute of Continuing Legal Education and Family Law Institute Seminars.
Cobb County Bar Association – Past President, former member of Board of Trustees for over 20 years. Have served on or chaired various committees including Continuing Legal Education, and Bench and Bar. Member of the Family Law Section and Trial Lawyers Section. Founder of Cobb Justice Foundation. Received the President’s Award on two occasions.
Elected member of the State Bar of Georgia Board of Governors for 20 years. Member and former chair of the Advisory Committee on Legislation, and member of many Bar committees, 2005 Justice Benham Award for Community Service, 2007 Distinguished Bar Leadership Award.
Member of the National Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for over 10 years.
Civic Activities
Member of the First Baptist Church of Marietta, Chair-elect of Deacons, and choir member and Sunday School teacher, President of the Rotary Club of Marietta; Former member of the Rotary Club of East Cobb; member of the Board of the American Heart Association, Boy's and Girls Clubs, Member of the Touchdown Club of Marietta High School and Past President and member of the Marietta Schools Foundation. United Way, Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Public Safety Committee.
1997 Cobb County Woman of Achievement recipient, 2005 Marietta Citizen of the Year.
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Judge Robert Leonard
Staff Attorney - Melissa Brickey (770) 528-1839
Administrative Assistant- Michelle Jordan(770) 528-1837
Court Reporter - Hannah Jones (770) 528-1838
Fax Number - (770) 528-1842
Judge Rob Leonard practiced law in Cobb County for 10 years before being appointed to the bench in the State Court of Cobb County by Governor Sonny Perdue in 2010. He was elected to an additional term in State Court before being elevated to Superior Court by Governor Nathan Deal in 2012. Judge Leonard was the recipient of the Cobb Bar’s “Ross Adams Award” for outstanding service and dedication to the profession in 2005. He was also named as a “Georgia Super Lawyers Rising Star” by Law and Politics magazine in 2009, 2010, and 2011, a distinction given to only the top two and a half per cent of lawyers in the State. He was recognized by Cobb Life Magazine as one of Cobb County’s “Top 20 Under 40.” He lives in Acworth with his wife and three children.
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Judge Poole
Staff Attorney - Jennifer Marcotte (770) 528-1845
Administrative Asst. – Andrea Sebesta (770) 528-1843
Court Reporter – Hannah Jones (770) 528-1844
Fax Number - (770) 528-1881
Judge Poole was elected to the Cobb County Superior Court in July of 2012, taking office January 1, 2013. Prior to joining the Superior Court, Judge Poole served on the Cobb County Juvenile Court for nearly ten years, where he presided over child delinquency and deprivation matters, focusing on rehabilitation of children and re-uniting families.
Upon graduating law school, Judge Poole joined the law firm later known as Dupree, Poole & King, where he practiced law for eighteen years. While with that firm his areas of concentration included criminal, civil, family, and education law. He represented the Marietta Board of Education from 1990 until his appointment to the Juvenile Court.
Judge Poole graduated from Presbyterian College in 1982 with a B.A. degree in History. He attended Cumberland School of Law of Samford University where he received his juris doctor in 1985. He was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in June of that year. He is a member of the State Bar of Georgia (Bench and Bar Committee; Consumer Assistance Program; Next Generation Courts Commission), the Cobb County Bar Association, the Cobb Justice Foundation, the Georgia Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children, an Advisor to the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University, and he is a Master of the Bench in the Charles Longstreet Weltner Family Law American Inn of Court where he serves on its Executive Committee. He served as President of the Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges in 2012 and is a past Trustee of the Georgia Institute of Continuing Judicial Education the Judicial Council of Georgia. In 2004 he was presented with the Distinguished Judicial Service Award by the Younger Lawyers Section of the State Bar of Georgia. Judge Poole is on several local charity boards of directors, including the Marietta Schools Foundation. He frequently lectures in juvenile, criminal, and domestic relations law, and speaks to schools and civic organizations.
Family and Community: A. Gregory Poole was born and raised in Marietta, Georgia, attending its public schools. He is married to Lucia Poole, who teaches advanced mathematics at Harrison High School. Together, they have five children. They are members of Marietta First United Methodist Church.
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Judge J. Stephen "Steve" Schuster
Judicial Administrative Assistant - Angie Bullock (770) 528-1849
Staff Attorney - Amy Saul (770) 528-1851
Court Reporter - Maribeth Williams (770) 528-7016
Fax (770) 528-1854
Residence: Marietta, Georgia
Education: 1973, B.A. - Economics – Tulane University; 1976, Juris Doctor Degree – University of Georgia School of Law; 2002- Graduate National Judicial College – General Jurisdiction
Profession: Judge, Superior Court of Cobb County; Prior Experience: Presiding Judge Juvenile Court of Cobb County, Attorney with an extensive family law practice and former Assistant District Attorney, Cobb Judicial Circuit
Personal: Married with two adult daughters
Activities and Awards: American College of Business Court Judges – Charter Member and Member of Executive Committee; Board of Governors for State Bar of Georgia; State Bar of Georgia - Young Lawyers Division: “Distinguished Judicial Service Award” for Cobb County Truancy Program; Cobb County Legal Secretaries Association “Boss of the Year”; Past President and Past Chaplain of Cobb County Bar Association; Board of Directors for Cobb County Boys and Girls Club, Inc.; Cobb County Chamber of Commerce; Member of Honorary Commanders with the U.S. Military; Marietta Kiwanis; Past President of Cobb County Symposium; Former Chairman of the Cobb County Board of Ethics for the Cobb County Board of Education; Master, Charles Weltner Family Law Inn of Court; Frequent speaker in the areas of Family Law, Business Law and Ethics and Professionalism.
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Judge C. LaTain (Tain) Kell, Sr.
Staff Attorney -Mary Catherine Greaber (770) 528-8131
Administrative Assistant - Natalie Bloodworth (770) 528-8130
Fax Number - (770) 528-8128
Judge Kell was appointed by Governor Sonny Perdue on December 10, 2007 as the tenth Superior Court Judge of the Cobb Judicial Circuit. He was elected to his first full term on November 4, 2008. He obtained his A.B.J. from the University of Georgia’s Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1984. He obtained his law degree from the University of Georgia in 1987.
From 1987-1997, Judge Kell served in the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, practicing in the area of civil litigation. He was in the Litigation Section at Troutman Sanders law firm in Atlanta from 1997 to 2000. In 2000, he joined the Marietta law firm of Brock, Clay, Calhoun & Rogers, P.C. where he became a partner/shareholder until his appointment in 2007.
Judge Kell practiced law for over 20 years in courtrooms across the State of Georgia, including both state and federal courts, the Georgia Court of Appeals and Georgia Supreme Court, all three federal district courts, and the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He is also admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Kell grew up in Cobb County, where his father, Corky Kell, was a football coach and athletic director, and his mother, Carole Kell, was an English teacher and middle school principal. He graduated from Wheeler High School in Marietta in 1980.
Judge Kell has been active in many civic and community activities, including participating in the 2001 class of Leadership Cobb, serving as Chairman of the Marietta Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the East Cobb YMCA, and serving for many years in the Hospitality Ministry of his church.
He and his wife, Sheri, live in East Cobb with their son. They are members of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church where Judge Kell serves as a deacon.
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Judge Reuben Green
Staff Attorney - Samuel Sabulis (770) 528-1890
Administrative Assistant - Sheila Ross (770) 528-1860
Court Reporter - Cindy Heckler (770) 528-1891
Fax Number - (770) 528-8105
Judge Reuben Green was appointed to the Superior Court bench by Governor Sonny Perdue in 2010 and then was elected to a full term in 2012. Immediately prior to his service on the bench, Judge Green was a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia, where he prosecuted drug trafficking organizations and violent career criminals. He also served the citizens of Cobb County as an Assistant District Attorney, where he handled the prosecution of over a thousand felony criminal cases.
Judge Green began his law career at King & Spalding, where his practice focused on employment discrimination, product liability, and general civil litigation.
Judge Green received his Juris Doctorate with Honors from Emory University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Before attending college he served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps. While serving as a Marine, he received the Good Conduct and National Defense Medals, was meritoriously promoted twice, and was Honorably Discharged after four years of active duty.
Judge Green is a member of the Cobb County Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia. He has participated with a number of civic and professional organizations, including Rotary International, Boy Scouts of America, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, and The Marietta Pilgrimage Tour. He has also taught courses in law and criminal justice at Emory University School of Law and Chattahoochee Technical College. He is a member of Northside United Methodist Church.
He and his wife Heidi have two children and are Cobb County Foster Parents.
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Senior Judges
Senior Judge G. Conley Ingram
Senior Judge Michael Stoddard
Senior Judge G. Grant Brantley
Senior Judge George Kreeger
Administrative Assistant - Rhonda Cochran (770) 528-1880
Staff Attorney - Thomas Davis (770) 528-8091
Fax (770) 528-8103
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