Governor Nathan Deal has appointed of Billy J. Nelson Jr. as solicitor general of the State Court of Long County.

The office became vacant when former Solicitor Mark Hendrix was appointed solicitor general of Liberty County State Court. The appointment took effect upon a swearing-in ceremony in the governor’s office on July 17.

Nelson is an assistant district attorney in the Atlantic Judicial Circuit. He earned his bachelor’s of business administration from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia and his juris doctorate from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.

He and his wife, Kathryn, have two children, Jennings and Beau, and live in Hinesville.