Supreme Court of Georgia Jane Hansen, Public Information Officer 244 Washington Street, Suite 572 Atlanta, Georgia 30334 404-651-9385 [email protected] 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.) 1