Judge Robert W. Chasteen Jr.,Superior Court for CordeleJudicial Circuitby Lucy M. Martinlmartin@hsrblaw.comwww.hsrblaw.comOn July 29, <strong>2009</strong>, I had the pleasureof interviewing Judge RobertW. Chasteen Jr., who has beena Superior Court Judge for theCordele Judicial Circuit since 2005. Prior tobecoming a Superior Court Judge he was inprivate practice for approximately 35 years inFitzgerald, Ga., the town where he was bornand bred. Judge Chasteen received his J.D.,cum laude, from the University of <strong>Georgia</strong>School of <strong>Law</strong> in 1969.Q: What influenced your decision tobecome a lawyer?The Hon. Robert W. Chasteen Jr.26A: My father-in-law was a lawyer and Iwould listen to him talk when I was in college.He would talk about his interesting cases. Ialso went to court with him a few times or I’ddrive him to court, so I guess that’s when Ibecome interested in becoming a lawyer.Q: What type of cases did you handle inprivate practice?A: It was a general practice. About 25percent of our cases were domestic relationscases. We did some criminal work. I alsorepresented the County as County Attorneyfor about 35 years. Our firm alsorepresented a bank and a bankholding company.Q: Do you miss anything aboutprivate practice?A: I miss the aspect of helpingclients, of being able to take theirparticular situation or problem andresolve it for them, so that you bothfeel good about the end result. Iused to enjoy sitting and talking tomy clients. When you’re a Judgeyou can’t sit around and do that.Q: What counties are in yourCircuit?A: Ben Hill, Wilcox, Crisp andDooly Counties.Q: What is your schedule likein terms of having to travel to eachCourthouse?A: If we’re not having jury trialswhich might require me to be inone place for several days, I spendabout one day a week in eachcounty. Also, I do a mix of civil andcriminal cases – some days I’ll doall civil cases and other days I’ll doall criminal.<strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2009</strong>
Q: Is there any additional travel you have to do in yourjudicial role?A: I also go to habeas proceedings at the Wilcox StatePrison in Abbeville once a month. The hearings are at theprison in a little courtroom set up there. I may have six orseven hearings in one day and it is much easier and lessdemanding of resources to hold the proceedings at theprison. You avoid the necessity of having to transport theprisoners here to the courthouse with all the guards andsecurity concerns that involves.Q: What is that experience like for you?A: Well, at the habeas hearings most of the prisoners arepro se and it is difficult sometimes to explain to them whatthey can and can’t do. Quite often, if you tell them thatlegal procedure doesn’t allow them to do certain things,for example, you are not allowed to file successive habeasproceedings, they think that you are criticizing them. Itcan be interesting work though and sometimes you hearinteresting reasons why you should set them free. I thinkthere may be a barter system where a prisoner can getsomeone to help them prepare for the hearing for money. Ihad one case where the prisoner said that I should overturnhis conviction because venue was not proper in the countywhere he entered his plea. However, I don’t know whofilled out the paperwork, but I was looking at the pleatranscript and saw that venue was proper in that county.He commented “I guess I paid money for nothing.” I don’tknow whether he was misled and the person who preparedthe paperwork didn’t know what he was doing, but theyraised some assertions that were not reflected in the record.Q: What was your first priority on becoming a Judge?A: One of my goals was to make the experience ofcoming to court as uncomplicated and efficient as I couldfor the lawyers, the parties and the jurors who appearedbefore me. For instance, I’m cognizant of the fact thatjurors’ time is very valuable and someone is paying forthem to be there, so I try to make sure that I’m using theirtime as efficiently as I can. I don’t like to have unnecessaryhearings. At a calendar call I’ll hear the uncontested casesfirst, so those people don’t have to wait two hours to beheard. If a lawyer is from out of town, I try to take hiscase first unless it’s going to take all day. But if they havesomething very short, I want to get these people out andback on the road so they can go home. Also, my goal wasand still is to treat everyone that comes before me withdignity, and to be fair and impartial while also taking carethat everyone’s time is being used as efficiently as possible.Also, I always keep in mind that I’m not only a Judge buta lawyer and people are observing me as a representativeof all lawyers and that when people are in my courtroom,they are getting an impression from how I conduct myselfof how the judicial process works.Q: As a Judge, what are your favorite types of cases?A: Adoption cases are the most fun. I enjoy thosebecause you see children going into a home wheresomeone is really interested in caring for them.Q: Do you have many pro se litigants coming before theCourt?A: I do see a fair number, but mostly in situationswhere there are no children. For people with children, Isee fewer pro se litigants now that they’ve changed all thefiling requirements, so that people now have to submitChild Support Worksheets and a Parenting Plan and so on.People now find they need attorneys because it’s difficult tojump through all the hoops necessary to get the paperworkdone and get everything into a form that will be acceptedby the Court.Q: Do you all require the filing of the Child SupportWorksheets and the Domestic Relations Financial Affidavitwith the initial filing?A: There is a Uniform Rule that is being consideredwhich will change the procedure such that you don’t haveto file those documents with the initial filing, but ourcurrent Internal Operating Procedures do require that theWorksheets and Domestic Relations Financial Affidavitbe filed at the time of the initial filing. When you file adomestic relations case, we have a Standing Order thatincorporates those requirements.Q: Do you make much use of the deviations on theChild Support Worksheets?A: Yes, I do use the deviations from time to time.One that is particularly useful is the deviation for travelexpenses related to visitation, especially when one parenthas moved far away from the other and the travel expensesare significant. I don’t see the use of the parenting timedeviation so much, because you really need to go beyondstandard visitation to warrant the use of that. But I’vehad some cases where a parent has more than just regularweekend visitation, for example the parent is takingthe children for the whole summer and in that case theparenting time deviation is appropriate.Q: Is there anything that frustrates you in particularabout cases where there are children involved?A: Something I don’t like to see is people not takingchildren into consideration in these cases, particularlywhen people don’t see that it is important for both parentsto be involved in the children’s lives as much as possible.It’s hard for two parents in a traditional household toraise children nowadays, particularly when it comes tosupervising the children, so you can imagine how hardit is when there is only one parent. I think sometimeslawyers need to do a better job educating their clientsabout the need for both parents to be involved in raisingthe children and spending as much time as they can withthem. I don’t mind telling parents, and I did this whenI was practicing, that if they tell me they don’t want theother parent visiting the kids, that is just not going toThe <strong>Family</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Review 27<strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2009</strong>
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