Education Foundation (GCDLEF)

At the end of 2008, the Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyers Legal Education Fund “GCDLEF” was formed. GCDLEF is a tax-exempt, 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation formed for the purpose of supporting educational initiatives sponsored by the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL) with particular focus on the Al Horn Scholarship, Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Program, and Debra Blum Seminar. Contributions to GCDLEF are tax-deductible and enable scholarships to be awarded for criminal defense lawyers to attend valuable educational programs. 

The Al Horn Scholarship enables deserving criminal defense lawyers in Georgia to attend the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC), a two-week, intensive trial practice program held each summer. A number of GACDL members and attorneys from outside of Georgia serve on the faculty of NCDC. The Al Horn Scholarship enables several GACDL members to attend NCDC each year, which is designed to train and enhance the trial skills of lawyers with substantial trial experience, some having tried as many as fifty trials. 

The Al Horn scholarship began in 1985 as a tribute to Atlanta legal legend and founding GACDL member, Al Horn. In addition to being colorful, Al was a dedicated and gifted criminal defense lawyer, practicing out of the Healy Building in downtown Atlanta with current and former GACDL members, judges, and attorneys, including Bruce Maloy, Jim Jenkins, Judge Bensonetta Tipton Lane, Amy Totenberg, and others. Al Horn believed in confronting the inequities in the legal system head-on and knew how to fight hard, but fair, while also winning the respect of judges and prosecutors. Al Horn was a pioneer in attacking “unwinnable” cases with motions to suppress, jury challenges, and motions for independent lab analyses. 

Al waged a courageous fight with cancer, but died at age 55, long before his time. At his memorial service, Andrew Young said, “Al Horn saw it as his duty in life to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.” Since 1985, the Al Horn Scholarship has helped send more than 190 GACDL members to NCDC. Donations to assist lawyers in attending NCDC help improve the quality of criminal defense in Georgia and continue to honor the memory of a gifted trial lawyer and even better person, Al Horn. 

The Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Program (Bill Daniel) was created in 1999 and invites 30 criminal defense lawyers to attend each year. This multi-day intensive is designed for lawyers, with little trial experience and a majority of the faculty are GACDL members. From 1999-2007, Bill Daniel was directed by Tony Cueto, a New York criminal defense lawyer and charter member of GACDL, 2008-2021 (with a sabbatical in 2018 and a coronavirus pandemic pause in 2020) by Jill Travis, in 2022 by Wes Bryant & Zanele Ngubeni, and beginning in 2023 by Wes Bryant & Christine Koehler. 

Bill Daniel is named for GACDL founding member William W. “Bill” Daniel, whose vision launched GACDL when he held a breakfast meeting at the cafeteria of the First National Bank Building in downtown Atlanta in about 1971. Daniel’s vision for a collegial group of criminal defense lawyers has ultimately grown into the current organization with more than 1,600 members. 

Daniel later served as Fulton County Superior Court Judge and began publishing Criminal Trial Practice, which, when coupled with the Georgia Criminal Law Case Finder, a work of GACDL member Don Samuel, provides the essential reference materials for criminal defense success. Contributions to the Bill Daniel improve the quality of criminal defense in Georgia, while honoring the name of GACDL founder, Bill Daniel. Over 700 scholarships have been awarded to lawyers who have attended Bill Daniel. 

The Debra Blum Scholarship, created in 2005, initially sponsored a GACDL member’s attendance at a weekend program in New York based on the New York School of Law’s “Survey of Mental Disability” law, a semester-long course. Now, GACDL produces a Debra Blum Seminar that includes a thorough analysis of all aspects of mental health law within the criminal legal system. The last in-person seminar occurred in Atlanta in 2024 with 70 criminal defense lawyers able to attend, in large part, due to scholarship funds from GCDLEF, which also allowed a virtual seminar to be produced in Atlanta in May 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. 

This scholarship honors the memory of Debra Blum, a dedicated and talented attorney committed to mental health advocacy. Debra was instrumental in forming the Mental Health Advocacy Division of what was then the Georgia Indigent Defense Council (now the Georgia Public Defender Council). The division is now known as the Office of the Mental Health Advocate, which oversees the treatment and review process for those acquitted in Georgia courts by reason of insanity. Debra had previously attended the New York School of Law’s mental disability law course and found it valuable. Debra was married to 2016 GACDL President Bob Rubin when she died in 2005 after waging a lengthy fight with cancer. Because mental health issues are so often intertwined with criminal defense matters, this scholarship improves the quality of criminal defense in Georgia. 

Each of these scholarship programs was created to honor the legacy of someone whose unique efforts contributed substantially to the quality of criminal defense, while also enhancing and serving the GACDL community. Each donation to GCDLEF serves the dual purpose of continuing to improve the quality of criminal defense while honoring individuals whose good works are worthy of tribute, while enabling lawyers to receive excellent education who may otherwise not be able to do so.  

Please donate! Make your check payable to GCDLEF and mail it to 215 Church St., Suite 111, Decatur, Georgia 30030. Indicate your preference as to which scholarship you wish to support. If you do not indicate a preference, your donation will be included in the general fund. 

As of January 1, 2025, Ryan Swingle serves as the current Chair of the Board of Directors of GCDLEF. Wes Bryant is the Vice Chair and a Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Co-Program Director. Jason Sheffield is the secretary/treasurer. Other Board members include: At-Large Board members: Immediate Past Chair, Joe Habachy; Joseph Cargile; John Garland; and Suesan Miller; as well as Christian Lamar (Al Horn Scholarship Chair), Christine Koehler (Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Co-Program Director), and Derek Johnson-Gage (Debra Blum Chair); and Elizabeth Brandenburg (Ex-Officio, GACDL Treasurer).