Eighteenth Judicial District - District Court Judge
Honorable William Blair SylvesterÂ
Retention Year: 2004
Recommendation: Retain
Reports:
The Eighteenth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance unanimously recommends that Judge William Blair Sylvester BE RETAINED.
Judge Sylvester graduated from the University of Maryland in 1973 and the Georgia School of Law in 1976. He has served as a District Attorney for 10 years and took the bench on May 25, 2001.
Judge Sylvester currently sits on the juvenile 50% and criminal 50% docket. This docket consists of child dependency and neglect and juvenile delinquency cases and is a difficult docket to manage and hear. Judge Sylvester is aware of the difficulties of this docket and is able to balance the stresses appropriately. He volunteered to remain on this juvenile docket when the judges rotated assignments recently.
Judge Sylvester has consistently higher grades from attorneys and non-attorneys than other trial judges across the state. Comments such as "intelligent," "knowledgeable," "fair," and "runs a good courtroom" are common in his evaluations.