Fulton County Juvenile Court is proud to announce that Christopher W. Yokom has been appointed to serve as an associate judge. The newest addition to the Juvenile Court judiciary, Associate Judge Yokom was administered the oath of office and officially sworn in on Friday, June 9th.
Prior to his appointment, Judge Yokom served Juvenile Court in a variety of roles working directly with children and families, beginning as a juvenile probation officer in 1997. He later served as a senior child advocate attorney, the court’s intake attorney and the director of court and family services. Judge Yokom is a recipient of 2005 Child Advocate Award presented by the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia and was the Atlanta Bar Association’s 2013 Fulton County Employee of the Year.
“I am honored, humbled and very excited by this opportunity to continue working with children and families in a new capacity,” said Judge Yokom.
This month coincides with Judge Yokom’s 20th year with Juvenile Court. As the newest addition to the judiciary, he joins Chief Judge Bradley J. Boyd, Presiding Judge Juliette W. Scales, Presiding Judge Renata D. Turner and three associate judges in hearing cases involving allegations of dependency, delinquency, children in need of services, parental rights and juvenile traffic violations.
“I am very happy to have Christopher Yokom joining us on the bench,” said Chief Presiding Judge Boyd. “He has a career’s worth of experience working with children and a mastery of juvenile law- I look forward to all that the good work he will accomplish for our young men and women.”
Judge Yokom holds a juris doctorate from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University and a B.B.A in marketing from Mercer University. Speaking to staff on June 9th, Yokom reaffirmed his commitment to making positive contributions to Juvenile Court and emphasized diversion and rehabilitative programming as key to keeping families together and children in school and out of detention.
Fulton County Juvenile Court is the largest juvenile court in Georgia and amongst the largest in the Southeast, with over 6,000 cases handled in 2016. Located in the Judge Romae T. Powell Juvenile Justice Center, it hosts three juvenile accountability court programs and award-winning diversion programs. Juvenile Court is home to the Leadership & Educational Advancement Program, in which school-excluded youth receive individualized academic and vocational instruction in a state-of-the-art classroom to earn their GEDs before being placed in local jobs or continuing their educations.
