presiding judge barnes to hear georgia supreme court case

Supreme Court of Georgia
Jane Hansen, Public Information Officer
244 Washington Street, Suite 572
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
404-651-9385
hansenj@gasupreme.us
PRESIDING JUDGE BARNES TO HEAR GEORGIA SUPREME COURT CASE
Atlanta, March 12, 2015 – Presiding Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes of the state Court of
Appeals has been designated to serve in place of Justice Harold Melton in the appeal of Steis v.
Steis (S15A0244). The Supreme Court of Georgia will hear arguments in the case on Monday,
March 16, 2015 during its 10:00 A.M. session. In this pre-trial appeal in a divorce case, the
husband is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s decision that a portion
of his income is marital property and therefore subject to division with his wife. In addition to
hearing arguments, Judge Barnes will participate in the Court’s decision.
Presiding Judge Barnes, 59, was elected to the Georgia Court of Appeals in 1998 as the
first woman elected in a state-wide judicial race without first having been appointed to the bench.
She has been re-elected twice and has served as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.
She serves on a number of boards and commissions, including the Board of Directors for
the Truancy Intervention Project's Early Intervention Program, the Board of the Georgia Court
Appointed Special Advocates, Inc. (CASA), and the National Courts and Science Institute. She
is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta, DeKalb, and
Gate City Bar Associations, the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, and the Georgia
Association of Black Women Attorneys. She is a Fellow of the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia,
a Master of the Bleckley Inn of Court, and a member of the National Association of Women
Judges, the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, and the Old Warhorse Lawyers Club.
Presiding Judge Barnes is a recipient of the Romae Turner Powell Judicial Service
Award, and has been recognized for her service by the Women in the Profession Committee of
the Atlanta Bar, the Younger Lawyer Division of the State Bar, and Justice Served.
A product of DeKalb County public schools, she graduated magna cum laude from
Georgia State University, and is a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, and a
Master of Law graduate from the University of Virginia. She is married to Dr. Thomas Banks, a
physicist, and attends St. Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church.
(Designated judges are appointed when a justice must recuse himself or herself from a
particular case. The Supreme Court of Georgia maintains a list of judges from around the state.)
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