The Honorable LaTisha Dear Jackson was first elected Superior Judge of the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit in 2018 and reelected without opposition in 2022. In both 2021 and 2022, Judge Jackson was selected to serve by designation as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia on two separate cases. Her service in 2022 was historic in that it was the first time the Supreme Court had an all-woman bench preside over oral arguments. After just nine months in office, Judge Jackson began serving as a presiding judge in the Circuit’s Drug Court. After a year of service, Judge Jackson was unanimously elected to serve as the Presiding Judge for the Circuit’s four Accountability Courts. In 2022, Judge Jackson was elected to serve as the Chief Judge of the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit as well as the Administrative Judge for the Fourth Judicial Administrative District which is comprised of DeKalb and Rockdale Circuits, a position she held for two years.

Prior to becoming a member of the judiciary, Judge Jackson served as a law firm senior associate, defending corporate and governmental clients in medical malpractice, wrongful death, premises liability, and insurance matters as well as representing individuals in personal injury and wrongful death matters. She also served as a full-time judge DeKalb County’s Recorder’s Court, sat by designation in both the Superior and State Courts of DeKalb County, and served as a judge in local courts. In 2008, she made history by becoming both the first female and youngest judge to serve the City of Stone Mountain and in 2012, she again made history by becoming the first female chief municipal court judge in the City of Lithonia. Judge Jackson is also a former solo practitioner and prosecutor.

Judge Jackson earned her Juris Doctorate from Georgia State University, her undergraduate degree from the prestigious Spelman College and is currently pursuing two separate certifications from the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Judge Jackson is active in numerous professional organizations. For the past nine years she has served on the Georgia-Statewide Access to Justice Committee, where she continually works to ensure that there is unfettered access to the courts by litigants and the public as they navigate the judicial system. Judge Jackson also chairs the complementing committee for the Superior Courts of Georgia. Judge Jackson is an active member of several bar organizations including without limitation – the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, the Atlanta, DeKalb and Gate City Bar Associations and DeKalb Lawyers Association where she served an unprecedented two-year term as President. Judge Jackson is a past chair of the State Bar of Georgia’s Judicial Section, past president of the Georgia Council of Municipal Court Judges and a past member of the State’s Judicial Council, having served on two separate occasions.

In her community, Judge Jackson has previously served on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Center for Children and Leadership DeKalb and currently serves as a DeKalb County Board Member for Boys and Girls Club Metro Atlanta and is a proud twenty-seven-year active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Judge Jackson has traveled throughout both the Southeastern United States and State of Georgia as well as abroad in Europe presenting on various judicial and legal issues with a passion for professionalism and access to justice. Judge Jackson has received numerous awards and honors recognizing both her legal and civic work. Judge Jackson not only works and serves DeKalb County, but she also resides there calling it home with her husband Gari Jackson. She is a member of Ray of Hope Christian Church.