Bob Wilson is a founding member of Wilson, Morton & Downs, LLC. His practice focuses on the areas of civil and business litigation and dispute resolution, education law, municipal law, corporate and government investigations and church and religious association law.
Bob served three terms as the District Attorney of the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit. Prior to this, he served as an Assistant District Attorney and as Chief Public Defender. While District Attorney, Bob established Georgia’s first Child Abuse Prosecution Unit, first Career Criminal Prosecution Unit, as well as one of Georgia’s first Victim Assistance Programs. Bob holds the highest rating possible for legal skills and ethical standards from the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review ratings system.
Every Georgia governor for the past 30 years has relied on Bob for numerous special assignments and investigative work. The scope of this work has varied, ranging from unfair business practices and public corruption to unexplained child fatalities and the widely publicized Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal involving standardized tests.
Bob earned a B.S. degree from the University of North Carolina and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law. He has also completed Harvard Law School’s Mediation program and has served as a court appointed mediator and special master. He is licensed to practice in Georgia and North Carolina and is a member of the Atlanta Bar Association, the Atlanta Lawyers Club and the DeKalb Bar Association. Bob is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb and Leadership Georgia, as well as a member and past president of the Decatur Rotary Club.
Bob has helped found three non-profit organizations that provide assistance and counseling to sexual assault victims, abused children, and support for public education, and served as the first chair of the Board of each entity. He has served on numerous public and private boards, presently serving as chair of the Board of Trustees for the DeKalb Regional Health System, an operating unit of Emory Healthcare, and served for 13 years as chair of the System’s Foundation. In November of 2016, at the request of the Board, Bob assumed the position of President and CEO of the System. In that role he helped stabilize the system while helping to lead it into a partnership with Emory Healthcare as of September 2018.
During his career, Bob has been the recipient of many distinguished awards and recognitions acknowledging his leadership and contributions to child welfare, healthcare, education, public safety, government and other areas that affect the entire community. Over the past 25 years, Bob has been named several times by Georgia Trend magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians.
Bob and his wife, Lynda, live in Decatur and are the parents of three children and the grandparents of four grandchildren. He is an active member of the Decatur Presbyterian Church, where he has served as elder and trustee.
