John Paul Berlon is a child welfare attorney. He started his legal career with Georgia Legal Services Program in 2000 and started his solo practice in 2003 with a focus on fair housing, domestic violence, juvenile justice, and child welfare. In 2006, JP focused his legal advocacy on matters before the juvenile courts. From 2008 to 2020, he worked as Senior Staff Attorney to the Honorable LeRoy Burke, III. Since 2021, JP represents children, parents, and guardians in delinquency, dependency, CHINS, and other matters pending before eleven Juvenile Courts in the Eastern (Chatham), Atlantic, and Ogeechee Judicial Circuits.
JP is a registered neutral and has mediated over 500 delinquency, dependency and CHINS referrals since becoming a mediator in 2011. He is a trained Community Conference facilitator as well as a certified conflict coach.
Since 2016, JP serves on the Executive Committee of the Child Protection and Advocacy Section of the State Bar of Georgia. He also is a Cold Case Fellow with the Cold Case Project (CCP) which is a collaboration of the Office of Child Advocate, Supreme Court of Georgia’s Justice For Children’s Committee, and the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services. CCP is a quality assurance program reviewing barriers to permanency and well-being issues for children most at risk for aging out of foster care without attaining permanency or resources to live independently.
He attended Georgia State University and received a Bachelor’s of Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on law and society. He attended Indiana University School of Law (now IU McKinney School of Law). JP received the Student Bar Association’s Community Service Award. At his law school graduation, the school created the Berlon Pro Bono Award given to future students who show an outstanding commitment to public service. JP is also the president of Guardian Ad Litem Angels in Action, Inc (GALAA), a nonprofit organization providing assistance to families in achieving reunification or assisting with family preservation.
JP lives in Savannah with his wife Lila Black and son Joe. His parents and seven older siblings modeled the importance of contributing to the community and acknowledging the inherent worth and dignity in every human being.