Shawn A. Heller is an experienced civil rights and criminal defense attorney, who has been working for social justice reform for more than fifteen years.  Prior to forming SJLC, Shawn was an attorney at the Florida Justice Institute (FJI), a non-profit organization, founded in the late 1970s in order to address civil rights issues throughout the State of Florida.  Shawn and Josh were colleagues at FJI, and together they worked on many cases addressing a variety of civil rights issues throughout the State.  These cases were in the areas of prisoners’ rights, discrimination, police misconduct and First and Fourth Amendments.   

  

Shawn holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as a student attorney for the Criminal Justice Clinic, and graduated with a B.A. from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  After graduation, Shawn was a litigation associate at Bilzin Sumberg in Miami, where he worked in Bilzin’s Complex Commercial Litigation Group.  While attending law school, Shawn served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Jose E. Martinez, United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, and prior to law school, he served as Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), a student-based grassroots not-for-profit organization.  Prior to attending college, Shawn was an intern in the office of Senator Bob Graham. He subsequently served in the White House as an intern for the Deputy Assistant to the President/Deputy Director for Political Affairs.