Judge Harris named as President of the Council of Superior Court Judges of Georgia

Superior Court Judge Ann Harris of the Cobb Judicial Circuit, Marietta, became President of the Council of Superior Court Judges. Her term of office, along with that of President-Elect Superior Court Judge Richard "Bert" Guy Jr. of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit and Secretary-Treasurer Superior Court Judge B. Chan Caudell of the Mountain Judicial Circuit, will run through April 30, 2025.

Judge Ann Harris was elected to the Superior Court of the Cobb Judicial Circuit in July 2014 and was re-elected without opposition in 2018 and 2022. In addition to managing a full docket of criminal, domestic, and civil matters, Judge Harris presides over Cobb County's Mental Health and Parental Accountability Courts. The former is a model court among the State's mental health courts, and the latter is an award-winning program that seeks to transform chronic non-payers of child support into self-sufficient, financially supportive parents through education, substance abuse treatment, and job assistance and placement. Over the past seven years, Judge Harris has participated in a cooperative effort with the Republic of Georgia to promote the independence of the Georgian judiciary and strengthen the rule of law in that country by assisting their judges in court and jury trial management. Chair of the CSCJ Pattern Jury Instructions Committee. She is also the Vice-Chief Judge of the Cobb Superior Court bench and is a member of the Weltner Family Law Inn of Court.

Before her election to the bench, Judge Harris served the people of Cobb County as an assistant district attorney for 19 years. In addition to prosecuting all types of serious felony offenses, she helped draft the first human trafficking laws in Georgia in 2006. She was a member of the regional human trafficking task force. Before her legal career, Judge Harris worked as a senior consultant with an international information services consulting firm for several years.

She earned her law degree from Vanderbilt University and her bachelor's degree from Auburn University. She is a member of and recently finished a two-year term as Chair of the Board of Directors of MUST Ministries, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting homeless and struggling families and individuals with housing, food, clothing, employment, and other needs. She and her husband Jim, both devoted Auburn fans, have been married for 39 years and live in Smyrna with their rescue dogs, Bert & Willie.