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Lisamarie N. Bristol, Esq., took office on January 1, 2023, as the Gwinnett County Solicitor-General after a successful countywide campaign. Each term of office is four years. The Solicitor-General is the elected prosecutor responsible for prosecuting misdemeanors, traffic offenses, and county ordinance violations. She is the first Black woman to hold this position.

Solicitor-General Bristol serves as an Adjunct Professor at Georgia State University College of Law, where she teaches in a Nationally top ranked lawyering advocacy program to second-year law students. Bristol is also part of the training team for the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia (PACGA) where she teaches and presents to prosecutors and investigators around the state on a variety of topics. In 2009, Bristol received her law degree from Georgia State University College of Law after earning a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with Specialized Honors from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was admitted to the Georgia State Bar in 2009 and sworn into the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia in 2010. 

Solicitor-General Bristol has handled cases from traffic offenses to serious violent felonies and appeals as both a prosecutor and a public defender throughout her career. Following law school, Bristol worked as a public defender for four years, where she handled a diverse caseload representing individuals charged with felony and misdemeanor crimes. She handled cases in Traffic Court, State Court, Superior Court, and the Court of Appeals.

In 2014, she transitioned into prosecution when she joined the DeKalb Solicitor-General’s Office as an Assistant Solicitor-General. There, she was assigned to the Special Victims Unit, handling cases involving domestic violence, crimes against vulnerable victims, elder abuse, stalking, and animal cruelty. In 2018, she joined the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office, where she worked as a Senior Assistant District Attorney, handling various felony cases. In 2021, she returned to DeKalb County as a Senior Assistant District Attorney in the Crime Strategies and Community Partnerships Unit, giving her greater opportunities to engage with the community while continuing her prosecution work.

In 2017, Solicitor-General Bristol joined a multi-disciplinary team consisting of prosecutors, law enforcement officers, social workers, and medical professionals from across the country, teaching on best practices for prosecuting elder abuse cases. As part of this team, she has traveled nationwide conducting trainings and teaching at conferences. She has also assisted in revising a nationally used curriculum funded by the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women. Locally, she helped train hundreds of law enforcement officers in DeKalb County on recognizing and investigating elder abuse crimes.

Solicitor-General currently serves on the Executive Board for the Georgia Association of Solicitor-Generals. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV), a non-profit organization working to end the crime of domestic violence and empower its survivors. In 2018, Solicitor-General Bristol was honored as part of the inaugural “Top 40 under 40” alumni from Georgia State University for her contributions to the community. In 2023, she received the Moxie Influence Award from the Gwinnett Chamber. She remains actively involved in the community through various organizations, including the Greater Atlanta Black Prosecutors Association (where she served as President), the Gwinnett County Bar Association, and the Gate City Bar Association.

A proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and the Junior League of Gwinnett and North Fulton, she is also a graduate of the Leadership Gwinnett Class of 2022.

Solicitor-General Bristol and her husband are happy to call Gwinnett home where they are raising their three children. In her free time, she enjoys reading.

Bio for Craig Cupid

Raised in Augusta, Georgia, Craig grew up in a working-class family where his
parents immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago. Craig’s dad was an electrician and
his mother an office worker and veteran. In their household, every penny counted.
During hot Georgia summers, they only ran the air conditioner at night because
that’s what they could afford. His parents were strict about turning off lights—not to
be difficult, but because when you’re working that hard, you can’t waste anything.
Those lessons stayed with Craig throughout his life, even when he and his wife Lisa
were both unemployed during the Great Recession with their first child on the way.

Craig earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a
concentration in Telecommunications from Georgia Institute of Technology, where
he also met Lisa—the love of his life. He then earned his Juris Doctor from Georgia
State University College of Law, where he graduated with pro bono distinction “with
Highest Distinction” for completing significant hours of pro bono service. During law
school, Craig clerked for the Federal Trade Commission’s Southeast Region.
Professionally, Craig has over 20 years of unique experience combining technical
and legal expertise. Before law school, he spent years as a network engineer at
Sprint, directing resolution of network anomalies and advising customers on data
product implementations across the East Coast as an engineering escalation
resource. After law school, he practiced intellectual property law for over 15 years,
becoming a partner at a national law firm where he represented clients in energy,
technology, and consumer products sectors—joining the less than 1% of African
American intellectual property partners nationwide.

Craig’s engineering background allows him to evaluate utility infrastructure plans
and the technologies affecting Georgia’s energy future, while his legal training helps
him understand corporate strategies and be a zealous advocate for ratepayer
interests. Craig has spent years watching companies innovate, pushing boundaries,
and finding cost-effective solutions. He knows what’s possible when you demand
excellence instead of accepting the status quo.
Craig understands that utility bills aren’t abstract numbers—they’re real costs that

affect families who count every penny, just like his family did growing up. He’s
running for PSC to provide independent oversight free from utility company money
and ensure technology advances benefit Georgia families, not just utility company
profits. The PSC needs someone who respects ratepayers enough to listen to their
concerns, respects the role enough to maintain true independence, and has the
backbone to say no to rubber-stamping utility requests.

Craig has lived in the Smyrna/Mableton/Austell area since 2002. He’s married to
Cobb County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, and they have two sons. He
coaches youth basketball in Smyrna and has served on nonprofit boards including
the Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance and the Licensing Executive Society
Foundation Board, where he served as Vice President focused on intellectual
property education and mentorship programs.