In the fifth chapter of her legal career, Jill served as GACDL’s 4th Executive Director. Jill has been actively involved with GACDL since her law school days and served as the 2005 President. She served on the GACDL board of directors in various capacities and received the GACDL President's Award from five presidents. Jill was the Director of the Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Program from 2008 to 2021 and served as an instructor with this program since its inception in 1999.
Previously, Jill served as Deputy Legislative Counsel for the Georgia General Assembly for 18 years, writing many of the laws that trial attorneys regularly use, e.g., Criminal Justice Reform, Juvenile Code rewrite, Evidence Code rewrite, and GPDC revisions. During her career, she wrote more than 10,000 bills and amendments.
Before joining the Office of Legislative Counsel, Jill practiced criminal defense for 14 years, serving as the Chief Public Defender for Douglas County for seven years. Her office received the 1996 Commitment to Excellence award from the Georgia Indigent Defense Council (now known as GPDC).
Before becoming the Douglas County Public Defender, Jill did civil, business, and criminal litigation in a small firm in the suburbs of Atlanta for four years and began her career in downtown Atlanta as a general practitioner working with another GACDL member in Kane & Anderson.
A Michigander by birth, Jill received her B.A. from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University but has lived in Georgia since attending law school at Mercer University. Jill completed the National Criminal Defense College in 1994.
