The landmark racketeering case in Atlanta towards former President Donald J. Trump and others has been assigned to Scott F. McAfee, a lately appointed Fulton County Superior Court decide who was as soon as supervised by the district lawyer overseeing the case.

Judge McAfee, 34, rose shortly in Georgia’s authorized world after graduating from legislation faculty a decade in the past, and certainly one of his first jobs was within the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. There, he dealt with early levels of felony circumstances earlier than being promoted to the complicated trial division. The division was led on the time by Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor overseeing the Trump case, in keeping with a former district lawyer and one other lawyer who labored within the workplace on the time.

Ms. Willis, who grew to become the district lawyer in 2021 after Judge McAfee had left the workplace, started a wide-ranging investigation of Mr. Trump and his allies concerning the 2020 election that culminated in a grand jury indictment on Monday evening.

A spokeswoman for Ms. Willis’s workplace didn’t return requests for remark about Judge McAfee’s time with the workplace. A lawyer for Mr. Trump didn’t instantly return a request for touch upon whether or not the previous president would possibly ask the decide, who was randomly assigned to the case, to recuse himself due to his previous working relationship with the district lawyer.

The indisputable fact that Mr. McAfee labored underneath Ms. Willis, a Democrat, would possibly present a gap for critics of the investigation, however Mr. McAfee additionally has conservative bona fides. While on the University of Georgia’s legislation faculty, he was the vice chairman of the Federalist Society, a conservative legislation group, and was the treasurer for the Law Republicans, which was described as serving “conservative, moderate and libertarian” legislation college students, in keeping with rosters of pupil group officers. He graduated in 2013.

While most judges are elected in Georgia, Judge McAfee was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, and sworn in on Feb. 1 to fill a emptiness on the bench. Mr. Kemp has clashed with Mr. Trump over the 2020 election leads to Georgia and different points, however has additionally sought to keep away from getting dragged into Ms. Willis’s inquiry, even unsuccessfully trying to avoid testifying in the case.

Several attorneys who labored alongside and towards Judge McAfee praised his intelligence and precision.

Charlie Bailey, a lawyer and former Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, mentioned he and Judge McAfee each labored underneath Ms. Willis when she led the complicated trial division, which prosecuted circumstances of home violence, assault and nonfatal shootings, amongst others. Mr. Bailey, whose spouse presently works in Ms. Willis’s workplace, mentioned that there have been roughly 20 prosecutors in that division on the time.

“He’s a conscientious and thorough prosecutor, and fair,” Mr. Bailey mentioned. “A lot like Fani, frankly, in terms of those qualities. I’m quite certain he’ll do a good job.”

Paul L. Howard Jr., who served as Fulton County district lawyer from 1997 till Ms. Willis efficiently ran towards him, confirmed in an interview on Tuesday that Mr. McAfee labored within the complicated trial division, and that Ms. Willis would have been his supervisor for a few of that point.

Judge McAfee was ultimately promoted to a senior assistant district lawyer place and prosecuted homicide circumstances as a part of the most important case division. In 2019, he was appointed to be an assistant U.S. lawyer for the Northern District of Georgia, which incorporates Atlanta, and prosecuted circumstances that included allegations of financial institution fraud and drug trafficking. In one case, he received the conviction of a person who stole 900 laptops from a tractor-trailer.

In March 2021, Governor Kemp appointed Judge McAfee to guide the state’s Office of the Inspector General, a authorities watchdog that investigates circumstances of fraud, abuse and mismanagement. He held that job till he was made a decide.

Esther Panitch, a protection lawyer and Democratic state consultant, mentioned she had been on the opposite aspect of Judge McAfee twice when he was a federal prosecutor, and that she discovered him honest and sort.

“Not every prosecutor is like that,” Ms. Panitch mentioned. “So I’m hopeful that he carries those qualities onto the bench.”

Judge McAfee is the most recent of the 19 judges on the Fulton County Superior Court. He will deal with the case towards Mr. Trump in addition to his 18 co-defendants, all of whom are accused of working collectively to illegally undo Mr. Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Ms. Willis mentioned Monday that she meant to attempt all the defendants collectively.

Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim contributed reporting.