Mr. Billy Earl Tomlinson

Bryan County State Court

Billy Tomlinson attended undergraduate school at the University of Georgia and earned his law degree at the Mississippi College School of Law. Prior to his studies, he proudly served in the United States Marine Corps. During his service, he was stationed at Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot as a Primary Marksmanship Instructor.

Judge Tomlinson first opened his law practice in Richmond Hill 24 years ago. He is licensed to appear before all Georgia state courts, the Northern, Central, and Southern Federal District Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.  While maintaining his private practice, Judge Tomlinson also served as the Solicitor for Garden City. Additionally, he served as Conflict Solicitor for 13 years for Bryan County State Court.

Judge Tomlinson first donned a judge’s robe as a Municipal Court Judge in Port Wentworth, Georgia. Since then, he has also been appointed as Judge in Pooler, Garden City, Ludowici, and the Magistrate Court of Bryan County.

He currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Council of Municipal Court Judges of Georgia and serves on the Senior District One representative for Municipal Judges, the Legislative Committee, the Judicial Training Council, the Committee to Prevent Sexual Harassment, and the Judicial Wellness Committee. Judge Tomlinson’s active involvement in the legal and judicial realm offers him the opportunity to meet others in the state and gain first-hand knowledge of the best judicial practices for his courts.

Since becoming the State Court Judge in Bryan County in the last election, Billy has never had any ruling overturned on appeal, he believes in getting it right the first time.
He is also especially proud of starting the Pretrial Diversion Program, which was created to provide alternatives to traditional prosecution to address the underlying causes of criminal behavior to reduce recidivism. PTD is a voluntary program run by the Office of the Solicitor-General. It has been incredibly successful for all those who have participated.

Lastly, Billy kept a promise to form a Family Violence Court Program to serve the citizens of Bryan County. This was a response to the increase in the number of victims and families that endured family-related violence in recent years. His program is only the 5th such program in the State of Georgia, the very first in Southeast Georgia, the first in any county south of Macon, and the first in any non-metro county. It creates an opportunity for first-time offenders of a family/domestic violence charge to earn a change in adjudication status of their eligible charges upon completion of special terms and conditions.