Judge Charles B. Mikell was born in Savannah on December 25, 1941, and received his undergraduate degree in history from Princeton University in 1963. He served for five years in the United States Army, including duty in Vietnam with the Central Intelligence Agency and as an advisor to South Vietnamese forces, and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Republic of Vietnam's Gallantry Cross.

After his Army service, Judge Mikell pursued a graduate degree in Central European history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for research in Prague and London. He earned his law degree cum laude in 1976 at the University of Georgia Law School, where he was a Senior Editor of the Law Review.

Judge Mikell practiced law in Savannah until his 1985 appointment to the State Court of Chatham County, where he also served as chief judge and as President of the Georgia Council of State Court Judges. He won election to an open seat on the Superior Court of Chatham County in 1992 and was re-elected in 1996. He was appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals in May 2000 and was re-
elected without opposition in 2002 and 2008.

Judge Mikell is married to Julia LeCraw Mikell, M.D., a neurologist. They have three sons, Chuck, John and Sam.