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JENNIFER GILES is an attorney with the Alpharetta, Georgia, law firm of Waggoner Hastings LLC, where her areas of practice include family law, divorce and adoption. She is a member of the Junior League of Atlanta and the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, where she is on the Board of Directors. Ms. Giles earned her B.A. degree from Heidelberg College and her J.D. degree from St. Louis University. JESSICA GORDON received her B.A. degree from Emory University in 2001 where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. degree, magna cum laude, in 2004 from Georgetown University Law Center where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. She has a history in child advocacy and abuse prevention. During law school, Ms. Gordon worked for the Family Advocacy and Domestic Violence Clinics at Georgetown University Law Center. Through her work with these law clinics, she has provided both policy advocacy and direct service representation. Following law school, Ms. Gordon served as a law clerk to the Honorable Phyllis A. Kravitch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She then had the honor of teaching at Emory University Law School as a Post-Graduate Fellow through the Barton Fellowship Program. Through this program, she worked on promoting policies to help foster children find loving permanent homes. Ms. Gordon now concentrates on adoption law, and assistive reproductive law at Steffas & Associates, P.C. SHERRY NEAL is the managing member of Neal & Wright, LLC. Experienced in both the private and non-profit legal sectors, Ms. Neal specializes in assisting families who want to grow through adoption and represents adoptive parents in all types of adoptions and in proceedings concerning Title IV-E adoption assistance benefits. As an outgrowth of her adoption practice and because of her commitment to Georgia's adoptive families, she founded the Georgia Council of Adoption Lawyers, Inc. and is the charter president of that organization. Ms. Neal is an associate member of the Georgia Association of Licensed Adoption Agencies; a member of Voice for Adoption, the Stonewall Bar Association, and the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers; and on the State Bar of Georgia's Children in the Courts Committee and Committee to Promote Inclusion in the Profession. She periodically serves as a mentor to new lawyers through the State Bar Transition into Practice Program. Ms. Neal graduated summa cum laude from Wesleyan College (Outstanding Young Alumna in 2004) and cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where she was a member of the Georgia Law Review. LISA PATRICK is a sole practitioner in Stone Mountain where she practices in the areas of family law, child support, custody, divorce and adoption law. Ms. Patrick also practices in DeKalb Juvenile Court in the area of deprivation which includes termination of parental rights and may lead to adoption to achieve permanency for children. She is a frequent instructor for National Business Institute and has taught subjects ranging from divorce to adoption. Ms. Patrick has also written three how-to manuals on the subject of divorce and adoption and has taught one teleconference on divorce litigation. She received her B.A. degree from Georgia State University and her J.D. degree from Woodrow Wilson College of Law. Ms. Patrick is admitted to Georgia Court of Appeals, Georgia Supreme Court, the U.S. of America Middle District of Georgia Court and the Northern District of Georgia Courts. She trained as a mediator through the Justice Center of Atlanta and has litigated numerous cases in both domestic work and juvenile law. IRENE STEFFAS is the owner of Steffas & Associates, P.C., where she practices in the areas of adoption, immigration, and assisted reproduction technologies. She has written many articles on the topic of international adoption. Ms. Steffas has spoken at national conventions for the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (AAAA), the American Immigration Lawyers Associations (AILA), and state CLE seminars. She serves the U.S. State Department, Bureau of International Information Program as a good will ambassador in such countries as Spain, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Ms. Steffas is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the State Bar of Texas, The Florida Bar, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, the Georgia Association of Licensed Adoption Agencies, and Resolve. She is also an Angel of Adoption. Ms. Steffas received her B.A. degree from Florida Southern college, and her J.D. degree from South Texas College of Law.
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