Doraville is touting its diversity after three women were hired as municipal judges, forming an all-women bench.
Jennifer Mann will become the city’s chief judge, while Vanessa Kosky and Chong Kim will both be associate judges. Kosky, the city’s first Latina judge, and Mann speak both English and Spanish, while Kim is the city’s first Asian American judge, Mayor Joseph Geierman said.
“I’m thrilled by their professionalism and their knowledge of the law, but I’m also excited that we have judges from many different backgrounds — bilingual," he said. "I think it sets Doraville apart.”
The trio will replace Judge Scott Carter, who retired July 2 leaving the city without a municipal judge. Coming in the wake of the state’s coronavirus shutdown, when the backlog of cases grew in many local court systems, the city struggled to quickly find a replacement.
“We were put in a tough position when Judge Carter retired, and that’s not a dig at him,” Geierman said. “We should’ve made sure we had some backup built into the municipal court prior to that.”
Municipal judges from Norcross and Dunwoody were brought in to cover in his absence. City Manager Chris Eldridge said that helped the city tackle its backlog of cases from April and May.
The Doraville City Municipal Court, located at 3765 Park Avenue, has jurisdiction over violations of state and local laws within the city’s limits. Those cases typically include traffic tickets and other code violations.
Eldridge assembled a committee of judges and other legal experts to help Doraville widen its search for candidates, which Geierman credited for the diversity of the new hires.
“It was important to me and for the council to open the process up,” he said. “Our hope was that we would have a more diverse selection of candidates by doing it that way.”
The Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association, which is chaired by Kim, congratulated her on her new job in a Facebook post. It’s the second time she’ll make history in Georgia, because she was also the state’s first Korean American woman to serve as a judge when she was hired 20 years ago in Fulton County.
The pay for the three judges has not been finalized, Eldridge said. He added that they will likely receive a flat payment for each court session they work. The money will come from the city’s general fund.
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