Updated to include Stephanie Thompson's comments. Original story published on Dec. 20, 2024 @ 11:30 a.m.
The acting solicitor general and a Gillsville attorney have submitted their applications to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's Office to become the next solicitor general of Hall County.
Stephanie Thompson has been the acting solicitor general since former solicitor general Stephanie Woodard stepped down in August amid criminal charges and a civil suit.
“We have already improved the efficiency of our arraignment process,” Thompson said. “I’ve worked here for almost 10 years and I can’t remember a time where the office has functioned more efficiently than it has been in the last three months.”
Thompson also added that Woodard had a purchasing card when she was elected solicitor. When Thompson was sworn in back in August, she gave the card back so that the only person in the office with a purchasing card is the office manager.
Some of the allegations against Woodard included her using the solicitor office’s card to make personal purchases.
As far as office morale after Judge David Emerson’s ruling that Hall County and Woodard had to stay on the civil suit brought by former employee Michelle Daniel for retaliation, Thompson said there was not much change.
“That case is about and will always be about, no matter who is named, the actions of Stephanie Woodard,” Thomspon said. “So there was no reaction to that.”
Thompson graduated from Georgia State University in 2009 and from John Marshall Law School in 2014. In 2021, Thompson was named the recipient of the Hall County Employee of the Year Award.
“We are committed to working together with our law enforcement officers and our defense bar to keep Hall County safe,” Thompson said. “I am committed to fairness and transparency.”
Inez Grant also submitted her application Friday, the final day allowed by the Governor's Office to apply for the position.
Grant has worked as an attorney in Georgia since 1992. She previously worked as a prosecutor and chief assistant in the Hall County Solicitor General's Office under previous solicitor Jerry Rylee.
Grant said several people had reached out to her asking her to apply for the position.
"I had a lot of people in the community asking me if I would consider it, and so I finally just sat down and put it all together and was like 'well, that would be kind of a neat way to end, because I started in the Hall County Solicitor's Office,'" Grant said. "We need some organization over there, and I just thought it would be a good idea."
In addition to her time in the Hall County Solicitor General's Office, she also spent several years in the Forsyth County Solicitor General's Office, the Barrow County District Attorney's Office and city court solicitor's offices in Gainesville and Oakwood. Grant currently operates her own law practice in Gillsville.
After Friday's deadline to submit applications, Kemp's office will then review candidates before appointing a new full-time solicitor general for Hall County. There is no official timetable for that decision.
The appointee will serve the rest of Woodard’s term, which runs through 2026.
