Atlanta city attorney is retiring

Nina Hickson has accepted a new job in Maryland.

Atlanta City Attorney Nina Hickson is retiring next month after serving as the city’s top legal adviser since 2018.

Hickson accepted a new position in Maryland for family reasons, the mayor’s office said, after more than two decades working for Atlanta in various roles.

“It has been my honor to serve the citizens of the city that has been my home for the past several years,” Hickson said in a statement. “I depart with confidence that the Law Department team will continue to provide excellent service in moving Atlanta forward.”

In 2018, Hickson was honored by the Georgia First Amendment Foundation for her work to reform the city’s transparency practices.

Atlanta’s City Attorney Nina Hickson is retiring from her post May 8.

Earlier this year, she was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to the Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion, and Education Commission, created to combat human trafficking in the state. In 2023, she received the Wellspring HOPE Award for her contributions to the issue.

“Nina Hickson has served the people of Atlanta with the utmost integrity and character,” Mayor Andre Dickens

Attorney Patrise M. Perkins-Hooker will serve as city’s interim attorney.

said in a statement. “From her advocacy for children and families to her dedication to ethics and transparency in government, Attorney Hickson is a shining example of what public service should look like.”

Hickson’s retirement will be effective May 8.

Dickens announced Tuesday that Patrise M. Perkins-Hooker, a long-time attorney and administrative partner for law firm Johnson & Freeman, will serve as interim city attorney.

Perkins-Hooker is an Atlanta native who has been practicing law for almost four decades. Perkins-Hooker made history in 2014 when she was elected as only the third woman and first Black president of the State Bar of Georgia. She then served as Fulton County’s attorney from 2016 to 2021.

“Patrise Perkins-Hooker is recognized as a highly reputable officer of the court and public servant,” Dickens said. “She has background experience in a wealth of service fields — including municipal law — that will serve the City and people of Atlanta well.”

Perkins-Hooker also served as vice president and general counsel for Atlanta BeltLine Inc. prior to her work for Fulton County.

“I am honored to have been asked by the Mayor to serve in this role and to provide support to his administration,” she said in a statement.