Pham Appointed Chief Judge By City Of Lawrenceville

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — The City of Lawrenceville announced Thursday the appointment of Judge Ethan P.H. Pham as its municipal court’s new chief judge. Pham will succeed Chief Judge Dennis Still, who will retire in December after 42 years of combined service in Gwinnett as an attorney and judge.

Pham was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and immigrated to the United States with his parents. His father was a soldier for the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese military during the Vietnam War and later imprisoned in North Vietnam, according to Lawrenceville spokesperson Melissa Hardegree.

“Given my family background and having seen first-hand what it was like to live in a society without the rule of law, I have come to develop a deep appreciation for our American legal and justice system, one designed to ensure the promotion and preservation of the rule of law,” Pham said in a statement released by the City of Lawrenceville.

A graduate of the John Marshall Law School and Shorter University, Pham co-founded Nguyen & Pham, LLC, in Norcross, Georgia, with his wife, Jenny Nguyen, also an attorney. His practice has focused primarily on local government law, civil litigation and criminal law. He was previously with Fincher Denmark, LLC, in Jonesboro, Georgia.

He is a co-founding member of the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Georgia, a member of the Gwinnett County Police Foundation Board, a member of the Access to Justice Committee, and serves as general counsel to the Atlanta International Night Market.