Melanie Barbee Cross fought her way onto the bench, winning a contested election and runoff in 2008 to become a Tifton Judicial Circuit Superior Court judge.

“She was a vigorous campaigner and since then, she has had no opposition for her position,” said her former law partner of 20 years, Ralph Simpson of Simpson Law & Mediation, in a letter nominating her for the Georgia Supreme Court. Simpson said she had the benefit of experience in general civil litigation and transactional work. He called her intelligent, diligent, hardworking and “extremely considerate of her clients’ problems and conscientious of her obligations to them.”