Our Team
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Kristen T. Shelton
Formerly Kristen Turner Jones
Your Hometown Attorney! Read more about her below!
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Joy Miller
Hey everyone, I am Joy Miller. I am one of Attorney Jones’ legal assistants. I mostly handle all of our real estate matters. I love my position and would not trade it for anything. My favorite thing about my job is that there is never a dull moment at the office, each of us is always learning and trying new things. Our clients bring me happiness. When I am at work I feel like I am at home with my second family. My favorite hobby is photography because I love capturing photos for people and their beautiful families.
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Haley Hill
Hey, my name is Haley Hill. My goal is to live happiness through my accomplishments. I value all of our clients and I want to help them achieve their goals. I was blessed with this team and to be a part of it. I love working as a family to get things done, but still have fun while doing it. At the office, NO DAY feels like a Monday. I'm always ready to come in and take on the day. There has never been a "bad day at work." I always go home with the same smile I walked in with. I am proud to be a team member with Your Hometown Attorney and I'm glad to be a part of your lasting legacy!
Meet Kristen!
I was born and raised in Lincolnton, Georgia. I am proud I have returned to Lincolnton to both live and work in the place that built me and supported me throughout my journey as this same place and these same people now help build, support, and raise my three daughters. I attend Faith Community Church here in Lincolnton. I have an immense love for all animals, but especially my pets which include: dogs, cats, and chickens. When I’m not reading, playing with my children or pets, I love listening to music, studying history, religion, and politics, and volunteering where needed the community. I served on the Board of Directors for LC PAWS, Lincolnton’s Animal Rescue Agency, where I held the role as Legal Counsel, Secretary on the Board of Directors, and a foster for local dogs and cats waiting a forever home. I strive to bring faith, hope, positivity, and security to my community through my legal knowledge and experience, meeting my community’s legal needs, and exceeding its expectations. I was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in November 2013 and decided I wanted to bring my own unique personality and style of practice to the legal field. I opened our firm (originally named Turner Jones Legal, LLC) on March 1, 2014, initially in Augusta, Georgia. However, the more I practiced and grew up, the more I felt the call to come home. I opened my office in Lincolnton in January 2016. I am passionate about my family, my business, my areas of practice, and my community. This passion drives and pushes me to bring the most effective and efficient representation possible to my clients while focusing on the individual goals and needs of clients in respect to their legal representation. It has been my goal to return home to the Central Savannah River Area (C.S.R.A.) and open a law practice that would focus on the needs of families as each member attempts to navigate through the legal world. I hope to one day develop a youth mentoring program within the community that will provide a place of release from the daily stresses of the community’s youth, a place of solace for times of trouble, and a place of pride as they develop life skills and work with the land and animals.
My Journey to Becoming an Attorney:
The College Years: University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (Class of 2010) - I graduated in the Class of 2005 as an Honor Graduate from Lincoln County High School then moved to my first “big city” and joined the ranks of my familial predecessors in the Classic City, known to most as Athens, Georgia, at the University of Georgia in the fall of 2005. As an avid Georgia Bulldog fan, I could most often be found in Sanford Stadium on Saturdays cheering for the Dawgs between the hedges. I also served as a volunteer and eventually as Executive Director of Designated Dawgs, Inc., formerly Watchdawgs, Inc., an organization and cause which is dear to my heart. I was employed at the Athens YMCA where I served as a soccer coach and study hall supervisor for various ages. It was during this employment that I began to find my passion for the law and the children and families that are impacted by it on a daily basis. I was selected to join as a member of Sigma Alpha Pi, a leadership fraternity. I was a member of one of the University of Georgia’s service sororities, Gamma Sigma Sigma and served as my Pledge Class President in 2007. During my senior year I interned with the Western Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office in Athens, Georgia. I graduated from the University of Georgia in May 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in history.
Law School Attendance: Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (Class of 2013) - Following my graduation from UGA, I joined my legal cohorts at Atlanta’;s John Marshall Law School in the bustling metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia. While the city was quite a shock for a girl who appreciates the quiet country life, I became enthralled with my legal studies so there was little time to be overwhelmed with Atlanta. That dedication to my studies led to the receipt of numerous CALI awards, which are awards given in law schools to the student with the highest grade in a given class. I was accepted to serve on the John Marshall Law School Law Journal’s editorial board the summer following my first year and was published twice in the journal my second year. In my third and final year of study, I was selected to serve on the Executive Editor Board and served as the Executive Editor to Notes and Comments. That year, my student comment, which focused on one of my primary areas of passion, Family Law and its effects on children, was selected and published in the John Marshall Law School Law Journal. While attending law school, I gained countless invaluable experiences both inside and outside the classroom. In the classroom, I undertook courses and focused my efforts on mastering the technicalities of legal work including real estate, alternative dispute resolution, wills, trusts, estate planning, bankruptcy, and family law. Outside the classroom, I focused on the practicality of my efforts through various courses, organizations and internships. I served as the Secretary of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society. I founded the Family Law Society at the school and served as its President. I was selected to serve as a Research Assistant for one the school’s alternative dispute resolution professors. I worked as an intern at The McCormick Law Firm, P.C. In Alpharetta, Georgia and as an interning prosecutor through the Third Year Practice Act with the Augusta Judicial Circuit’s District Attorney’s Office. Perhaps my most educational and favorite experience was the summer I served as a judicial intern to Chief Judge Robert E. Flournoy, III in Cobb County Superior Court. Each of these internships exposed me to various intricacies that are present in the many areas of law in Georgia and Federal Law including, but not limited to, creditor bankruptcy, debtor bankruptcy, divorce, child custody and visitation, alimony, legitimation, adoption, juvenile law, wills, trusts, and criminal law - both prosecution and defense. After Law School: Bar Admission, Building Her Own Practice, Bringing the Law to You I graduated Cum Laude and sixth in my class from Atlanta's John Marshall Law School in May 2013 and immediately entered preparation for the July 2013 Georgia Bar Exam. I sat for the July 2013 Georgia Bar Exam and waited many long weeks to receive my passing results in October 2013. During the wait, I was employed with Louis Saul, P.C. in Augusta, Georgia where I gained invaluable creditor and debtor bankruptcy and wills experience. I have been sworn into the bars of Georgia state and superior courts, the Georgia Court of Appeals ,and the Georgia Supreme Court. I have also been admitted to practice in the federal courts of Georgia, including the District and Bankruptcy Courts of the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Georgia. I am a certified mediator registered with the Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution, although I am currently inactive in this capacity. I am a trained and experienced Guardian Ad Litem and Child Welfare Attorney serving the CSRA in probate and superior courts for adults and minors and the primary Guardian Ad Litem and Child Advocate Attorney for the Toombs Judicial Circuit Juvenile Courts.
BAR ADMISSIONS:
2013 - State Bar of Georgia
2013 - Georgia Court of Appeals
2013 - Georgia Supreme Court
2014 - Southern District (and Bankruptcy) Court of the United States of America
2015 - Middle District (and Bankruptcy) Court of the United States of America
2016 - Northern District (and Bankruptcy) Court of the United States of America
CERTIFICATIONS:
2013 - General Civil Litigation Mediator (currently inactive)
2014 - Completed Child Advocate Training (Guardian Ad Litem): Superior, Probate, Juvenile, and Custody
MEMBERSHIPS:
Georgia Bar Association
Augusta Bar Association
Lincolnton-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce
PUBLICATIONS:
ATLANTA’S JOHN MARSHALL LAW SCHOOL LAW JOURNAL
December 2011 - “House Bill 261: Disclosure; Certain Records Exempt”
May 2012 - “House Bill 871: Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011”
Co-Authors: Penelope Hansen, Ethan Scott Williams, Esquire, and Tiffany Norris
December 2012 - “The ‘Magic Moment’ of Honesty: Protecting Georgia’s Children and the Men that Did Not Create Them
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS:
CALI Awards in: Estate Planning, Real Property, Constitutional Law, Juvenile Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Cum Laude - Juris Doctor - Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School
Review sourced from Google