Kemp appoints Tyler Browning to Cobb Superior Court

By Mark Woolsey

Governor Brian Kemp has announced a number of judicial appointments, one of them the naming of a new Cobb County Superior Court judge.

Longtime Marietta attorney Tyler Browning is filling a vacancy created by the resignation of A. Gregory Poole, who  retired at the beginning of the year.

Browning is the managing partner of Browning, Browning and Gilkinson LLC, which focuses on family law cases. He has represented clients in a variety of family law and civil actions. He’s also served as a guardian ad litem(a court-appointed advocate for minor children and some adults in court proceedings) and as a special master.

In a letter to the governor, Poole said he was honored to have served as a superior court judge for the past 13 years, and as a Cobb County juvenile court judge for ten years prior to that. He also served as chief judge from 2023 to 2025,

What is Cobb County Superior Court?

In Georgia, the Superior Court is one of three trial courts found in each judicial circuit.  The other two trial courts are State Courts and Probate Courts.

If you watch TV or movie courtroom dramas you’ll be familiar with the most high-profile role of the court. A Superior Court in Georgia would be the court where a murder trial would be conducted.

So the Superior Court conducts felony trials.

But it also handles a number of other types of cases.

The Georgia Superior Courts website describes the varied functions as follows:

The Superior Courts of Georgia is a court of general jurisdiction handling both civil and criminal law actions. Superior Court Judges preside over cases involving misdemeanors, contract disputes, premises liability, and various other actions. In addition, the Superior Court has exclusive equity jurisdiction over all cases of divorce, title to land, and felonies involving jury trials, including death penalty cases.

How are Superior Court judges chosen?

Superior Court judges are elected for four-year terms in nonpartisan elections.  If a judge resigns or retires, the governor will appoint a replacement to serve out the judge’s unexpired term.

The requirements to run for a Superior Court seat are that the candidate be at least thirty years old, has been a Georgia citizen for at least three years, and the candidate has practiced law for at least seven years.

How do I learn about Superior Court judges before elections?

Judicial races are among the most difficult for the public to research, but the internet has made it easier.

For Cobb County judicial elections there are a number of media that cover the courts and candidates, including here at the Cobb County Courier, the Marietta Daily Journal, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and East Cobb News.

For biographies of judicial candidates, you can also visit the campaign web pages of the candidates.  Those biographies are of course, written to put the candidate in the best light, but it’s a good starting point for determining the candidate’s educational and employment background.

To get a list of the candidates, visit the Georgia Secretary of State page for qualified candidate information at https://sos.ga.gov/qualifying-candidate-information

Superior Court is considered a state office, so you would select “State” on the Office Type pulldown menu, the General Primary/Special Election under the Election menu, and “Non Partisan” under the Party menu.  Then under Offices scroll down the pulldown menu until you find the Superior Court race you are looking for.