Raman Gill started her career as an attorney with an impressive 8-0 record in jury trial, serving as an assistant public defender in Dallas County. Her commitment to using her position as a lawyer in the cause of social justice has given her a broad level of career experience: From working as an attorney at the non-profit organization Texas Appleseed, where she was the lead advocate in establishing the nation's first mental health public defender's office, to writing editorials in the Dallas Morning News on subjects including indigent defense and mentally ill defendants, to finally joining Sumpter & Gonzalez to stand up for people as a private attorney. We sat down with her to talk about going from the public defender's office to a private firm, the flaws in the court-appointment system, and how she sometimes gets great results by telling a prosecutor what’s special about her client.

Sumpter & Gonzalez: Why did you jump from being a public defender to working in a private firm?

Raman Gill: Well, more ...