Politics & Government

Green, Castellanos Get Best Bar Marks

A sitting Cobb Superior Court Judge and a hopeful for an open spot were the favorites in an Atlanta Bar Association members' poll.

Sitting Cobb Superior Court Judge Reuben Green was voted the "best qualified" candidate in his race to win his first full term, according to a recent poll of Atlanta Bar Association members. 

The same goes for Cobb Superior Court candidate Roland Castellanos, a current Cobb State Court Judge who is one of three hopefuls vying for the position left vacant by the retirement of Dorothy Robinson.

Cobb judicial races in the July 31 primary are non-partisan.

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A total of 401 Atlanta Bar Association members responded to the poll, which was distributed by e-mail in early July. They were asked to rate candidates only in contested judicial positions for the judicial circuits of Atlanta, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Stone Mountain and Rockdale State and Superior Courts.

Green, who was appointed to his position to succeed retiring Judge Ken Nix in October 2010, was rated "best qualified" by 118 Atlanta bar voters. His challenger, Nathan Wade, an attorney , received 19 "best qualified" votes. 

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Castellanos received 79 "best qualified" votes in his race, followed by Cobb Juvenile Court Judge Greg Poole's 66 votes. Cobb Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Van Pearlberg received 25 "best qualified" votes.

While Green, Wade, Castellanos and Poole all received strong votes for being "well qualified" and all five received high marks for being "qualified," roughly half of all respondents said they had "insufficient knowledge" of the Cobb Superior Court candidates to issue a rating.

“We believe this Bar poll serves as a valuable public service for the voting community,” said Lynn M. Roberson, president of the Atlanta Bar Association. “The aim is to provide the public with the views of lawyers responding to the poll who have sufficient knowledge of the candidates to form an opinion regarding their qualifications.”  

Green is a former Cobb Assistant District Attorney and a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for Northern Georgia and practiced at King and Spalding in Atlanta.

Wade's previous experience in the public sector includes the Cobb Solicitor's Office, a substitute judge in Cobb State Court, a municipal court judge for the city of Marietta, and a Special Assistant Attorney General for Georgia. 

The following are complete poll results on the two Cobb races by the Atlanta Bar:

Cobb Superior Court Insufficient Knowledge Not Qualified  Qualified Well Qualified Best Qualified Reuben Green 208 7 56 67 118 Nathan Wade 264 26 34 8 19 Cobb Superior Court Insufficient Knowledge Not Qualified Qualified Well Qualified Best Qualified Roland Castellanos 203 7 82 41 79 Van Pearlberg 237 22 53 16 25 Greg Poole 218 4 52 54 56


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