Maria J. Batres

Maria J. Batres

Maria Batres is an associate attorney at Kuck Baxter Immigration, which handles cases in all areas of Immigration Law.  Prior to joining Kuck Baxter,  Maria served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Cobb Judicial Circuit in Georgia, and previously worked as an Assistant Solicitor in Fulton County Georgia.  She prosecuted felonies and misdemeanors in the Greater Atlanta Area for six years. Maria had also previously worked in immigration law, with Socheat Chea, P.C., at the beginning of her legal career.

Maria is an active Board member of the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association, after completing two years as president of the organization.  In her work with the GHBA, Maria coordinated with her team to encourage the growth of the membership and its connections with the community.  During her tenure, the GHBA continued its collaborations with the Hispanic National Bar Association, as well as with the Georgia Latino Law Foundation, which fosters stronger connections with the Latinx law student community in Georgia.  

Maria is also actively involved in the legal community.  She has served as a panelist for the National Latino/Latina Law Student's National Conference in New York, speaking on the issues of Criminal Justice Reform and Crimigration.  She was also invited to be a panelist at NLLSA's 1st Annual Southeastern Region Conference at Ole Miss Law School in 2019.  She is a member of AILA the HNBA, Atlanta's Multi Bar Leadership Council, and she serves as a mentor for law students through the Georgia Latino Law Foundation.  Maria also serves on the GSU Law Alumni Council, currently working as the LAC Admissions Committee Co-Chair.  Because of her various involvements with giving back to the community, Maria was also featured in the GSU Law Alumni Magazine, Women in Leadership issue, in the summer of 2018. 

In 2017, Maria was appointed to the Georgia State Commission on Interpreters, the policy making body appointed by the Georgia Supreme Court to oversee the development of a Statewide plan for the use of interpreters in Georgia Courts.  She served on the committee for two years.  Maria was the recipient of a Trailblazer Award at the 2018 Advocacy for Action Empowerment Summit, and in January of 2019, Maria was named to Atlanta Magazine's Top 500 Most Influential Leaders in Infrastructure and Government. 

Maria is a Native of Little Rock, Arkansas, born to Guatemalan parents, and is also fluent in Spanish. Maria is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Georgia, and all lower Georgia courts. 

Maria received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgia State University College of Law, graduating cum laude, in 2011. During law school, she worked as a legal intern at the Latin American Association and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia. She served as the president of the Hispanic Student Bar Association and was also actively involved in the Student Trial Lawyers Association. Maria has also earned a Bachelor’s degree in History and a Master’s degree in Teaching, both from Trinity University in Texas. Prior to becoming an attorney, Maria had a career as an educator, teaching middle and high school social studies, here in Atlanta, for over a decade.