Group Mentoring (December)

Hon. Christopher J. McFadden Related Seminars and Products

Georgia Court of Appeals

Presiding Judge Christopher J. McFadden was elected in November 2010 for a term beginning January 1, 2011 and reelected in 2016 and 2022. He is a son of the late Isabel McFadden and the late Judge Donald B. McFadden, who served for twenty years as a trial court judge in Akron, Ohio.

Judge McFadden graduated from Oglethorpe University in 1980 and from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1985. He opened his own law office in 1988 and remained a sole practitioner until he joined the Court of Appeals. For most of that time, he practiced in Decatur and focused on appellate litigation. Before joining the Court of Appeals as its 74th judge, he appeared as appellate counsel before 26 of the judges who preceded him.

In 1996, along with the late Professor Edward C. Brewer and attorney Charles R. Sheppard, he published Georgia Appellate Practice through the Harrison Company of Norcross, Georgia. With Mr. Sheppard and attorneys Charles M. Cork, III, David A. Webster, Kelly A Weathers, and formerly with the late attorney George W.K. Snyder, Jr., Judge McFadden continues to update it for West, which now publishes it in annual editions.

With attorney Laurie Webb Daniel, he is a founding past Chair of the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of Georgia. For twelve years, Judge McFadden served as an officer or director of the Atlanta Bar Association. He is a past chair of its Sole Practitioner/Small Firm and Judicial Sections and is a recipient of the its Distinguished Service and Charles E. Watkins, Jr. Awards, as well as its Judicial Section’s Romae Turner Powell Judicial Service Award.

Judge McFadden is an elected member of The American Law Institute. He presently serves as Chair-elect of  the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association and chaired its 2018 Appellate Judges Education Institute, which was held in Atlanta. He has served as a volunteer attorney for the Innocence Project and the Election Protection Project. In addition to the Atlanta Bar Association and American Bar Association, he is a member of the DeKalb Bar Association, Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Gate City Bar Association, Federalist Society, American Constitution Society, Saint Thomas More Society and of Oglethorpe University’s Stormy Petrel Bar Association. He served for more than six years on the State Bar of Georgia’s Committee on the Judiciary. He chaired a committee of the Judicial Council of Georgia that drafted the Superior and State Court Appellate Practice Act.

He is a parishioner at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Decatur, Georgia and has served as a lector since 1988. Judge McFadden is married to Dr. Linda Hyde, Professor of Biology at Gordon State College in Barnesville, Georgia. They have a son.

Ms. Nkoyo-Ene Richard Effiong Related Seminars and Products

State Bar of Georgia

Nkoyo-Ene Effiong is the Director of Law Practice Management Program for the State Bar of Georgia. In that role, she helps Georgia lawyers tap into innovation to build a profitable and purpose-filled practicewith less struggle and stress. With a steadfast focus on equipping lawpreneurs with the confidence,competence and capacity to leverage the right tools for their practice, Nkoyo seeks to advance a more innovative and inclusive legal profession that meets the needs of legal professionals and legal consumers.

Additionally, Nkoyo is a frequent local and national speaker and writer on legal innovation and practice management topics. She regularly contributes to the Georgia Bar Journal,theABA and other bar publications.Prior to joining the State Bar, Nkoyo was the founder and principal attorney at The Effiong Firm LLC, an education and nonprofit law firm that advocated unapologetically for excellence, equity, and education justice alongside marginalized communities.

As a strategic partner, Nkoyo helped families and mission-driven leaders leverage the law to protect the people and purposes that mattered most to them using amix of flat-fee and subscription legal services.Nkoyo is a proud graduate of Brown University and New York University School of Law.

You can reach Nkoyo at nkoyoe@gabar.org or 404-527-8770.For best-in-class tips, tricks, and tools to streamline your law practice, join The LPM Insider:bit.ly/lpmnewsletter

Judge Kimberly A. Childs Related Seminars and Products

Cobb County Superior Court

Judge Kimberly A. Childs was elected in May 2016, winning a contested three-way race for an open seat on the Cobb County Judicial Circuit Superior Court bench.  She was re-elected again in 2020 and qualified in 2024 with no opposition.

Before her election, Judge Childs represented businesses and their owners in a variety of commercial disputes. She routinely litigated complex matters in courtrooms across metro-Atlanta.

Between her undergraduate studies and law school, Judge Childs worked as a guard at the DeKalb County Jail and later as a paralegal at a small law firm in Cobb County.  These experiences inspired her to further her education and provided a “real world” foundation for her commitment to our justice system.

Judge Childs has been active in the local bar for many years. She served as President of the Cobb County Bar Association in 2017-20018. Before that, she was the President-Elect, Treasurer,Secretary, Trustee, Business Law & Litigation Section President, Solo/Small Firm Section Secretary, Women of the Bar Section President.  In 2015, she received the President’s Award from the Cobb Bar.

Judge Childs is a member of Lawyers Club of Atlanta.  She serves on the State Bar of Georgia’s Bench & Bar Committee, Court Technology Justice Committee, and the Uniform Superior Court Rules Committee of the Council of Superior Court Judges.  She currently represents the Cobb Judicial Circuit on the State Bar Board of Governors.  

Judge Childs presides over the Cobb County Drug Treatment Court. DTC is an accountability court designed to manage individuals with substance addiction by providing an alternative to the traditional justice system. DTC is designed to improve the health of our participants, not only by addressing the immediate symptoms of their addiction but also orienting participants to a new way of healthier living that can be continued for the rest of their life.

Judge Childs graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State University College of Law. At Georgia State, she was on the editorial board of Law Review and received numerous academic honors.  She obtained her undergraduate degree in criminal justice from North Georgia College. 

Before serving on the bench, her skills in and out of the courtroom earned her top honors, including being recognized as a Georgia Super Lawyer, a Georgia Super Lawyer Rising Star, and one of the Business Law Legal Elite.  In 2016, Judge Childs was named to the Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers list, as well as one of the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in both 2015 & 2016. 

On a personal note, Judge Childs is a steadfast and passionate fan of the Atlanta Falcons. She also enjoys watching Atlanta United, the Hawks, and the Braves.