Lawanda Hodges

About

As a former prosecutor, Lawanda Nowlin Hodges, Esq. has over a decade of experience prosecuting major felonies, ranging from homicides to public corruption. As a Senior Assistant District Attorney in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit, Attorney Hodges prosecuted some of the most heinous crimes, earning her numerous awards including, but not limited to, Attorney of the Year and The Lewis Slaton Award (awarded to the highest achieving prosecutor in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit).
As lead counsel in over 50 felony jury trials, Attorney Hodges is a seasoned trial attorney. She also has successfully prosecuted and assisted in the investigation of over 400 felony matters that involved the interviewing and assessment of hundreds of witnesses. Attorney Hodges understands all stages of a criminal investigation, as she has directly orchestrated legal search warrants and presented dozens of matters before the grand jury, including those involving public officials.
Lawanda Nowlin Hodges, Esq. was also a Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney in DeKalb County, the second largest county in Georgia that has received much news coverage regarding public corruption matters. There, she supervised the Organized Crime Unit that included the Public Integrity, White Collar, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), and Gangs units. As Deputy of these units, Attorney Hodges had a particular concentration on public corruption cases, where she directly oversaw and managed large scale, high-intelligence investigations that took several months—and in some cases, years—to investigate. In this role, she managed parallel and multi-agency investigations, concerning agencies such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
As a former civil litigator, Attorney Hodges has significant experience handling corporate matters, as well. She began her legal career working as an associate at the international firm, King & Spalding, LLP, where she assisted with complex civil matters concerning major corporations in federal court. She returned to the world of business litigation as a senior associate for Ashe, Rafuse & Hill (now Polsinelli) when she first ended her career as a prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office Major Case Unit and prior to returning to the government as Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney for DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office.
The combination of her civil and criminal litigation experience makes Attorney Hodges especially capable to handle sophisticated cases needing the seasoned trial advocacy abilities of a prosecutor and the business acumen of a corporate litigator. With her combined civil and criminal background, she argued dozens of motions and prepared considerable pleadings in state and federal courts.