Melissa Gifford Hise (Georgia 7th Superior Court District Lookout Mountain Circuit, Georgia, candidate 2024)
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Melissa Gifford Hise ran for election for judge of the Georgia 7th Superior Court District Lookout Mountain Circuit. She was on the ballot in the general election on May 21, 2024.
Hise completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Melissa Gifford Hise provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on May 3, 2024:
- Birth date: August 27, 1968
- High school: Chattanooga Valley High School
- Bachelor's: Mercer University, 1990
- J.D.: Cumberland School of Law - Samford University, 1993
- Gender: Female
- Profession: Attorney
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook
Elections
General election
General election for Georgia 7th Superior Court District Lookout Mountain Circuit
Ann Willard Fiddler and Melissa Gifford Hise ran in the general election for Georgia 7th Superior Court District Lookout Mountain Circuit on May 21, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| Ann Willard Fiddler (Nonpartisan) | |
| Melissa Gifford Hise (Nonpartisan)  | |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Election results
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hise in this election.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Melissa Gifford Hise completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hise's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am running for the position of Superior Court Judge for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit for the seat being vacated by retiring Judge Kristina Cook Graham. I am a lawyer, mediation, and a part-time Magistrate Judge in Walker County. I have been practicing in this and other circuits in Georgia for over 30 years. I have practiced as a small-town lawyer covering most areas of the law including, family, real estate, contracts, criminal, property, estate, personal injury, employment and appellate work. I have served as a part-time Magistrate Judge for seven years and as Registered mediator with the State of Georgia for 4 years. I also served as the law clerk for the Superior Court Judges early in my career. I am the founder and former Executive Director of Four Points, Inc., a non-profit providing court-related services to adult and child victims of domestic violence. I live in Walker County with my children and two children. I grew up in Walker County and graduated from Chattanooga Valley High in 1986.
- I am the most experienced candidate for the job as I have 30 years of legal experience practicing in most areas of the law, including family, property, personal injury, criminal, probate, juvenile, contracts, employment, and municipal practice. I have practiced in the Georgia appellate courts having filed multiple appeals in the last eleven years. I also have judicial experience serving as a part-time magistrate judge for the last 7 years with the last 3 being a presiding judge two days per week in addition to on-call duties.
- I will strive to be transparent in decision making on the bench. I want litigants who come before me to understand the order as given, the facts found to be important as applied to the relevant law. I want litigants to feel they have had their day in court, unless the case must be summarily adjudicated without a hearing due to a point of law.
- I will strive to be efficient in the use of the court's time and the litigants' time. It is my understanding that some changes will be occurring in the next year that will hopefully allow the streamlining of cases to be heard and allow litigants to be heard more quickly. As a lawyer, I know the frustration of having cases continued to a lack of time to hear it on an assigned date. This costs the litigants time and money in having to return to court multiple times. I pledge that I will be at work every day and that I will work hard to move the cases along.
As a judicial candidate, I cannot sound in on public policy, but I am passionate about the law and the judicial system being that independent third branch of the government that allows the people to seek solutions to their problems. I want the judiciary to be independent, non-biased, and fair to each person before the court.
I am a hard worker. I have worked multiple jobs throughout my adult life. Even now, I have three jobs, lawyer, judge, and mediator. I have often worked 6 or 7 days a week to accomplish the work that I have taken on. I get this work ethic from my father, who went to work no matter what his entire life so that my mother could be at home with my sister and me. He was a blue collar worker and he never complained. He even took on a side job for many years to be able to provide extras for us. A strong work ethic is needed to make sure that in the position of Superior Court Judge, people's cases are heard fully and efficiently.
I worked at The Cotton Company as a phone customer service representative. The business was a mail order clothing company, and I took orders and answered questions via phone after school. It was a great job and an interesting job. I stayed with that job for several months until I moved into a position as a runner for a law firm in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I am running for this seat as I believe I am the most qualified candidate for this position based on my 30 years of experience as a lawyer, judge, and mediator. I believe I can bring professionalism to the bench. I also will apply and be true to the rule of law, treating each person equally according to the facts of their case. It is important to me that outcomes be consistent. Similarly situated litigants should be aware that the outcome will be the same for each of them. I was brought up, so to speak, under "old school" lawyers and judges who studied the law, revered the law, and loved the law. I have that same passion and do not seek the position of Superior Court judge for accolades or status. I want to help my fellow neighbors in my community to receive resolution to their disputes in a fair and ethical manner. I cannot please everyone, but I will strive to hear the cases and apply the law as best I can. I bring much experience to the table in many, many areas of the law so that I can be ready to fully assume the duties of Superior Court judge on day 1.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ [Email from Georgia Secretary of State Election office, "Candidate list," March 12, 2024]
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