Brett Willis has been defending people since birth. His entire legal career has been dedicated to defending people who are accused of committing crimes.

Brett has been trying and winning the most difficult and serious cases since 2005 — and his ability to win those cases has earned him a national reputation.

Brett has been practicing criminal law exclusively since 2005. He has successfully defended over 2,500 clients (saving an estimated 10,000 years for his clients).

He is a member of the inaugural class of Gideon’s Promise. Brett has served as an instructor for: the Harvard Law School, the Georgia Public Defender Council, and the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Bill Daniel Program.

In 2008, Brett successfully challenged the constitutionality of the sex offender registration law as applied to homeless persons in Santos v. State, 284 Ga. 514 (2008).

In 2010, Brett was selected as one of ten Georgia lawyers under forty “On the Rise” in a review by The Fulton County Daily Report. In 2011, he was recognized for securing a dismissal for a woman accused of poisoning her husband with arsenic; the case had been slated to appear on TruTV. In 2013, he was featured in the HBO documentary Gideon’s Army. Also in 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Foot Soldier award by Gideon’s Promise. In 2014 Brett was named the Georgia Public Defender of the Year. He earned his J.D. from the University of Georgia (2003) and his Master of Laws from New York University (2004).