Episode 54: Hon. Kenneth Hodges, Georgia Court Of Appeals

Kenneth (Ken) Bryant Hodges, III was elected to the Court of Appeals by the citizens

of Georgia in 2018, winning every county in the state with wide bipartisan support in a

contested election for a rare open seat on the Court. Judge Hodges took office on Jan.

1, 2019, and was elected again state-wide in 2024. With deep experience in diverse

practice areas, Judge Hodges has served as a prosecutor, defended criminal cases,

and been on both sides of a dispute in civil matters. He has been a court appointed

receiver and a mediator. Judge Hodges is applying this experience on the bench to

uphold the rule of law and ensure justice for all.

Judge Hodges was born and raised in Albany, GA. He graduated from Episcopal High

School in Alexandria, VA, and earned his B.A. from Emory University in Political

Science and Sociology with a minor in English in 1988. While at the University of

Georgia Law School, he participated in a clinical program with a public defender and

was sworn in under the Third Year Student Practice Act to try cases. He earned his J.D.

from UGA Law in 1991 and set out to become a litigator. After working with a litigation

firm in Atlanta, he returned to Albany as an Assistant District Attorney.

Judge Hodges was elected District Attorney of the Dougherty Judicial Circuit in 1996 at

the age of 30. Within the first two years, he cleared out a backlog of eight death

penalty cases and took them to trial. He formed trial teams which effectively ended

unnecessary delays in moving cases forward, and focused on laws and programs to

better protect children in the county. This included a child prosecution unit, a child

advocacy center, a truancy program to target unauthorized school absences, and he

also established a sexual assault unit. In his second term, he was named District

Attorney of the Year for the State of Georgia.

During his 12 years as District Attorney, Ken was committed to managing an efficient office, which operated under budget every year. He was elected President of the DA’s Association and also served as Chairman of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council; he was appointed by Governor Roy Barnes as Chairman of the Legal Loan Forgiveness Task Force and as a member of the Certainty in Sentencing Commission.

In 2008, he returned to private practice, working in transactional law and then

litigation. In 2015, Ken started his own law firm, Ken Hodges Law, based in Albany and

Atlanta with a focus on commercial litigation. Judge Hodges was elected President of

the State Bar of Georgia (2018-2019), the first judge to lead the organization in its

history. He currently serves on the State Bar’s Office of General Counsel Oversight

Committee, is Chairman of the Advisory Board for Truist-Albany, and is Vice-Chairman

of the Albany-Dougherty Airport Commission. Ken also serves on the Board of Advisors

of University of Georgia’s State Botanical Garden and the Board of Directors of the

Southwest Georgia Legal Self-Help Center, a non-profit that works to improve access

to justice for low-income people in the region.

Judge Hodges has been widely recognized for his legal and civic accomplishments

during his more than 27 years as a practicing attorney, including as the recipient of the

State Bar’s Commitment to Equality Award, the Justice Benham Award for CommunityService, and The Eagle Award from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for his work on behalf of crime victims.

Links:

https://www.gaappeals.gov/

http://www.akintate.com/

https://www.gatriallawyers.net/

See You In Court (seeyouincourtpodcast.org)

To learn more about the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation, visit fairplay.org