Fulton County Courthouse. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

Fulton County voters will have a wide selection of candidates to pick from June 9 when they get to choose among hopefuls seeking a spot on the Superior Court bench.

In addition to five candidates seeking to fill the vacancy that will be created when Judge Constance Russell steps down at year's end, two of the court's newer members—Judges Rebecca Rieder and Rachelle Carnesale—have also drawn challengers. 

Russell has served on the Fulton bench since 1996. Vying to replace her are Melynee Leftridge Harris, Tamika Hrobowski-Houston, Lizz Kuhn and Ashley Osby. 

Leftridge Harris has served as a full-time Fulton magistrate judge since 2010. Prior to that, she was a part-time magistrate and civil litigator and worked as an assistant prosecutor for the Fulton County district attorney. She also served as law clerk for the superior court and Georgia Court of Appeals.

Leftridge Harris is a Spelman College alum and received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She joined the State Bar of Georgia in 1991.

Hrobowski-Houston has served as an appointed judicial officer in the Fulton Superior Court's Family Division since 2016, where she hears cases involving child custody, visitation and domestic violence.

Hrobowski-Houston received her undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and her law degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law.

Her early career included a stint as a deputy prosecuting attorney, and in addition to running her own solo office as a civil and criminal lawyer she has served as a special assistant U.S. attorney and federal government counsel.

Kuhn is a partner with Alpharetta's North Metro Litigators, where her practice includes family law, personal injury litigation, bankruptcy and criminal defense. 

After receiving her undergraduate degree from West Liberty State College in West Virginia, Kuhn spent a couple of years teaching music to middle school students—her online bio said she plays jazz saxophone and steel drums—before attending New England School of Law in Boston.

Kuhn joined the State Bar of Georgia in 2005.

Osby has served as a Fulton magistrate judge since 2017 and before that was an associate judge on the Clayton County Probate Court.

As a young lawyer, she served as a staff attorney for the late Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes. In private practice she handled business litigation, bankruptcies, estate and trust law and family law. 

Osby is an Atlanta native who received her undergraduate degree from Tulane University and her law degree from the Georgia State University College of Law. She also holds a Master's of Law degree from the University of Alabama. She joined the State Bar of Georgia in 2003. 

Incumbents Challenged

Rachelle Carnesale has been on the Fulton bench less than a year, having been appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp last June to fill the seat vacated by Judge Gail Tusan. 

Carnesale's history included stints as a prosecutor in the Blue Ridge and Stone Mountain judicial circuits and an assistant state attorney general. She also is a former division director for the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services, deputy director for the Office of the Child Advocate and director of the Georgia Child Death Investigation Program.

Carnesale received her undergraduate degree form the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her law degree from the Emory University School of Law. She joined the State Bar of Georgia in 1992.

Carnesale's challenger, Tiffany Sellers, has a private practice in Atlanta and is of counsel with Johnson & Freeman. She also serves as a part-time municipal court judge in Union City, Forest Park and Riverdale. Sellers was also the first chief judge for the city of South Fulton, a position she held from 2017 until the city council dismissed her last year.  

Sellers also has served as legal counsel for Grady Memorial Hospital, MARTA and the Atlanta Housing Authority, according to her campaign website. 

Sellers is originally from Paterson, New Jersey, and attended undergraduate school at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. She received her law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. Sellers joined the State Bar of Georgia in 2006.

Judge Rebecca Rieder was appointed to the bench by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018. Prior to that, she was a partner at family law boutique Hedgepeth, Heredia & Rieder and was a shareholder with general litigation firm Davis, Matthews & Quigley. Rieder was an associate at Carter & Ansley and Finley & Buckley earlier in her career.

Rieder earned her bachelor's degree at the University of the South in Suwanee, Tennessee. She went on to earn her master's degree from the University of Georgia and her law degree form the UGA School of Law.

Rieder joined the State Bar of Georgia in 2001.

She is being challenged by Shermela Williams, a litigator with Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Tompkins.

Williams spent nearly a decade as a prosecutor in Fulton County before going into private practice and had handled civil and criminal matters. She received her undergraduate degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Williams joined the State Bar of Georgia in 2001.