Within hours of Judge Kathlene Gosselin’s announcement Friday morning, two Hall County Magistrate Court judges – Michelle Hall and Brian Heck – announced plans to seek the non-partisan post next year.
EARLIER STORY
The Chief Judge of the Gainesville-based Northeastern Judicial Circuit, Kathlene Gosselin, plans to retire at the end of her current term on Dec. 31, 2024.
Judge Gosselin was the first woman elected to a Hall County judgeship. That was in 1986 when she became a judge in the State Court of Hall County. She was appointed to a Superior Court judgeship in 1988 by then-Gov. Zell Miller and has been Chief Judge since 2018 when Judge C. Andrew Fuller retired.
“I am grateful to the people of Hall and Dawson counties for allowing me to serve as judge, alongside many fine judges and staff, for all these years,” Gosselin said Friday morning. (The circuit includes those two counties.)
Superior Court Judge Jason J. Deal will succeed her as chief judge. Gosselin will accept the position of senior judge when she retires.