MONROE, Ga. — Monroe attorney Jeffrey L. Foster has announced he is running for a position as a Superior Court judge in the Alcovy Circuit.
Foster — who serves as the judge of the Social Circle Municipal Court — will run for the seat currently held by Judge Eugene Benton of Monroe. Benton has said he is not seeking reelection.
Covington attorney Robert H. Stansfield is also running for the Benton seat.
The nonpartisan election will be May 19, 2020.
Foster cited “unmatched experience and utmost integrity” in his campaign announcement.
“I am a husband, a father (including stepdad, foster dad and adoptive dad) and a grandfather, first and foremost,” he said. “Professionally, I have been a prosecutor, a private civil and criminal defense attorney and a judge. In over 26 years in the courtrooms of Georgia, I have an unmatched breadth and depth of experience that I will bring to the bench as I seek to continue serving Walton and Newton counties as one of your next Superior Court judges.”
Foster worked in the private sector, for Mobil Oil Co. and the DuPont Co., and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Delaware in 1989. He attended the University of Georgia School of Law, during which time he interned with the Alcovy Circuit district attorney’s office.
After graduating from the UGA law school, Foster worked as a law clerk for Judge John M. Ott in Covington, then became an assistant district attorney in 1995.
District Attorney Ken Wynne, who is now a Superior Court judge, later appointed Foster as the chief assistant district attorney.
In August 2003, Foster started the Foster & Hanks law firm (now Foster, Hanks & Ballard). He is the firm manager, handling all administrative, human resources and financial issues.
He has served as a board member at the Ministry Village (now Four Winds at the Ministry Village) in Loganville; the Pregnancy Resource Center of Walton; the Walton Christian Learning Centers; the Uniting Hope for Children foster care placement agency and Belief in Motion, a Loganville-based global missions organization that operates in western Romania.
From 2015-17, he was the director of rescue ministries and communications for the Ministry Village.
Foster and his wife, Monroe native Kresta Greer Foster, together have seven children and two grandchildren. They are members of First Baptist Church Loganville.
“I would be honored to fill the seat of the retiring Judge Benton, and would like the opportunity to bring my diversity of experience, my love of the law and the courtroom and ability to understand people facing difficult and stressful situations to the bench as judge of the Superior Court for Walton and Newton counties,” he said.
