Ruth Ann Hepler

I grew up in Panama City, graduated from the University of Missouri in 1988 with a degree in journalism and gotmy law degree from the University of Florida in 1991. I joined the Jacksonville Public Defender's Office in 1992, leaving toopen my own private practice in 1999.  In 2003, I returned to the PublicDefender's Office to work part-time so that I could spend more time at homewith our three young daughters.  In 2008, I joined Mike full-time in hispractice. (Mike and I became friends at the Public Defender's Office in 1992.) My husband Carey works a consultant, and we are co-owners of Hepler (a franchise of Fibrenew International), which is a mobile repair servicefor leather, plastic and vinyl. 

In 2010, I was appointedto the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions inCriminal Cases.  I'm also a member of the Jacksonville Women Lawyer'sAssociation and the Northeast Florida Chapter of the Florida Association ofCriminal Defense Lawyers.