Shouse Law Group Case Manager
Jill Veglahn
If you're a Shouse Law Group client with a case in Orange County or the South Bay, you've probably already talked to Case Manager Jill Veglahn.
Veglahn runs the firm's Long Beach Office and has case management responsibilities for the gamut of misdemeanor and felony matters including drunk driving, drug crimes, assault crimes and "strike crimes" under California's three strikes law.
"She's wonderful with clients," says firm South Bay lawyer Al Amer. "She has a terrific attitude and the kind of genuine compassion that is essential for the kind of work we do."
Before joining the firm, Jill worked in an assortment of careers from radio promotions to real estate. She's a certified notary public and most recently spent six years as office manager for another South Bay criminal defense firm.
Jill enjoys the outdoors and spends weekends biking and jogging on the Hermosa Beach Strand. Every Saturday, she coaches an elementary school soccer league.
She's also committed to helping inner city youth and has been a volunteer for both Homeboys Industries and A Better LA.Jill grew up in the Bay Area and majored in Psychology at California State University, East Bay. She's always had an interest in criminal defense work, in part because of a family member's experience with the criminal justice system.
"People make mistakes," she says. "Everyone deserves a chance to change."
Out of the office, Veglahn nurtures her artistic side. She's the go-to wardrobe stylist for her friends and enjoys fashion and makeover television shows like Project Runway and What Not To Wear.
But her main artistic passion is photography. In 2010, she fulfilled a lifelong dream to visit Paris and hone her craft. She spent six weeks living the life of a Parisienne, eating in cafés, speaking in French, and photographing it all. While there, she took a digital photography course from noted photographer Randy Harris.
"It was kind of an Eat, Pray, Love" kind of thing, she says, referring to Elizabeth Gilbert's novel about a young woman's spiritual journey through Italy and India. The novel was turned into a major Hollywood hit starring Julia Roberts.
But in Jill's case she found love before embarking on her journey. With her plane tickets to Europe already purchased, she met her boyfriend – an Audi service technician – when she took her Audi A4 in for service after the engine blew. Fortunately, he's a gourmet cook as well as a mechanic...so she hasn't left those Paris cafes too far away even though she's now back in her beachside cottage in LA.
You can read more about Jill and see her photographs (from Paris, Hermosa Beach and everywhere in between) at her blog lifeunexpectedsince77.
