Attorney Bio

Jessica D. Gabel

Jess Gabel is Of Counsel to the Vernia Law Firm and a professor of law at Georgia State University’s College of Law, where she teaches courses on bankruptcy, scientific and forensic evidence, and contracts. Jess graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law and summa cum laude from the University of Central Florida. While in law school, she co-founded and served as the executive director for the Wrongful Convictions Project, which assists defendants with claims of actual innocence. The Project continues its work in Florida.

Jess gives national and regional presentations on various issues in business law, bankruptcy, trial strategy, criminal law, and forensic science. She writes on a wide-range of topics, among them: the validity of forensic evidence, DNA accuracy, trial and jury tactics, international human rights, bioethics, bankruptcy reform, and international bankruptcy. She is also co-author of the “Bankruptcy Appeals Manual” (with Sam Maizel), published by the American Bankruptcy Institute. She serves as the vice-chair of membership for the ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee, and in 2009, the Committee presented her with the Kathryn R. Heidt Memorial Award, which commemorates Heidt’s legacy of scholarship, leadership, and service in the American Bar Association.

Prior to joining Georgia State University College of Law, Jess clerked for the Honorable Peter T. Fay, Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. While clerking, she also taught legal research and writing at the University of Miami and coordinated the Bankruptcy Assistance Clinic. She then practiced law with Covington & Burling LLP in San Francisco, California.

Jess consults on various criminal and bankruptcy matters, and has engaged in numerous pro bono criminal defense representations at the request of public defender offices. While practicing in San Francisco, she taught evidence, forensic evidence, and bankruptcy as an adjunct professor at University of California Hastings School of the Law.