Christine Koehler

Christine has dedicated the last 25 years of her life to helping people when they are at their most vulnerable.  Helping families who have lost a loved one or suffered significant injuries due to the negligence of another person is what she does best.  She is also relentless in her defense of people who stand accused of a crime.  

Christine may be best known for shutting down the Gwinnett County jury system for three months when she successfully challenged the composition of the jury pool in Gwinnett Superior Court.  Christine subpoenaed the entire Gwinnett County Superior Court Bench and litigated against the Attorney General's Office until a judge ruled that the jury pools were being improperly created.   

Highly regarded by her peers, she has received an AV Preeminent* rating from Martindale-Hubbell as well as a 10.0 "Superb" rating from Avvo.

In high demand as a speaker on criminal and civil litigation tactics before groups of fellow professionals, Ms. Koehler has for the past 17 years served on the faculty of the annual Trial Advocacy Program of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is a former President of that organization. Christine is also on faculty at the National Criminal Defense College.  A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Ms. Koehler is a former President of both the Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia, Inc., and the Criminal Defense Section of the Gwinnett County Bar Association.

In January 2016, Christine returned to Georgia State University College of Law, as an adjunct professor, teaching Advocacy.

In addition to Christine's work as a trial attorney, Christine represents lawyers accused of violating the Bar Rules.  Christine served as a State Bar Investigative Panel member for 8 years, one of those as the Chairperson.  Since leaving the Investigative Panel Christine's practice includes consulting with attorneys on ethical issues, testifying as an expert witness in cases with ethical dilemmas and representing lawyers accused of violating the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.  

In 2017, Christine received national attention when she filed an ethics complaint against Gwinnett County Commissioner Tommy Hunter.  Christine served as lead counsel, handling all aspects of the litigation, in Nancie Turner v. Tommy Hunter. The Gwinnett County Ethics Board found in favor of Christine's client.

In June of 2017 Christine had the opportunity to litigate via satellite technology on behalf of a child client in a custody matter. Christine serves as a Guardian ad Litem with some regularity at the request of Superior Court judges.  This was Christine's first opportunity to litigate from over 1000 miles away thanks to courthouse technology.  She had no idea that due to Covid-19, she would be litigating via Zoom for the better part of 2020.

Christine's educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Communication Arts from Georgia Southern University and a Juris Doctorate (cum laude) from Georgia State University College of Law. Christine has also received advanced training at the National Criminal Defense College, where she is now on faculty, and The National College for DUI Defense.

*AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories: legal ability and general ethical standards.