Shera Grant and Shanta Owens

Shera Grant joined her identical twin sister on the bench of the Jefferson County Court System in 2016 as a district court judge. Prior to that she was a deputy public defender, Jefferson County; managing attorney, the Grant Firm, LLC; prosecutor with the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office, DeKalb County, GA; adjunct professor, Alabama State University; adjunct professor Kennesaw State University; assistant city solicitor, Atlanta; assistant solicitor general, Fulton County, GA . Her sister, Shanta Owen, is the Presiding Judge for the Drug Court program for the Birmingham Division of Jefferson County, a rehabilitation program for nonviolent drug offenders who want to live drug free lives.  She formerly was a criminal prosecutor in the Jefferson County DA Office.

Shanta Owens is currently a Criminal Division District Court Judge and was formerly the Presiding Judge for the Drug Court Program for the Birmingham Division of Jefferson County, a rehabilitation program for nonviolent drug offenders, who want to live drug free lives. Prior taking the bench, she was a criminal prosecutor in the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

The twins were raised by a single mother, a librarian in Jefferson County. Their father died when they were four years old. Their mother was determined that her daughters were going to have a better life and managed to raise two excellent students who graduated from Ramsay High School. They both went to Alabama State on full scholarship where they consistently made the Dean’s List. Then they both proceeded to LSU law school and the Université D’ Aix-Marseille III in Aix-en-Provence, France where they enrolled in the dual degree program and received both Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Bachelor of Civil Law degrees.  They are best friends and their husbands have been best friends since they were children. Shera and Shanta have two children of the same age and sex. They have been featured on “Inside Edition”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlQaU1NpzLs