On Monday morning, the Northern District of Georgia’s new ATL Court went live. A committee, led by Judges Grimberg and Salinas, designed the new diversionary court, the district judges approved the pilot program, and the court is up and running. This program will surely have a few growing pains, but it will do tons of good for some of our clients. We are very excited, and we hope that you will be, too.
In Judge Grimberg’s press release, you will find links to a description of the program, its mission statement, and the application forms. You will also find all the same information on the district court’s website. On the Home page, you will find on the far right a tab labeled “ATL Court.”
The program will be very selective, but we encourage anyone who is interested to apply. The court has chosen to impose a handful of ground rules. First, the court will only accept applications from people whose indictments begin with a 2022 case number (or target letter). Second, the court encourages people to apply early in the case, which generally means before pretrial motions have been filed. Third, certain categories of applicants will be “presumed ineligible,” although applicants who match these exclusions may argue that they merit admission in spite of the presumption. (You will find that enumerated list on the website.)
We know everyone will have lots of questions about how this will work in practice. So, Millie Dunn and Matthew Dodge will lead a (second) Zoom Q&A on Tuesday, April 19, at 10:00 AM. Please email Matthew Dodge [Matthew_Dodge@FD.org] if you’d like to attend; he will send you the Zoom credentials before the meeting. If a lawyer cannot make it to the Zoom meeting, but wants to learn more about the program, she or he should call Matthew Dodge or Millie Dunn for a one-on-one chat. They are here to help.