Attorney — The Jewkes Firm, LLC
Ava K. O’Brien is a personal injury attorney at The Jewkes Firm, LLC. She is one of the few lawyers in Georgia who transitioned from a research laboratory to the courtroom. A native of Brooks, Georgia, and a Griffin High School graduate, Ava represents injured clients across South Atlanta with both a scientist’s rigor and a neighbor’s loyalty.
In contrast, Ava’s journey to law sharply differs from Jordan’s.
Ava earned her master’s degree in Molecular Biology, specializing in molecular genetics, from Georgia State University in 2002. She then spent fifteen years working in the laboratories at Emory University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Piedmont Healthcare. Certified by the American Board of Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics (ABHI), she specialized in DNA testing techniques — a scientific pedigree few practicing attorneys can match.
In February 2016, Ava served jury duty. What she witnessed in that courtroom both horrified and inspired her. Consequently, three months later, she left her scientific career to pursue the law. She enrolled at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School in January 2017. Ava later earned her J.D. in May 2019, and passed the State Bar of Georgia exam that same year. Since that jury experience, her mission has remained clear: to help everyday people navigate a legal system they never chose.
During law school, Ava interned with the Fulton County Public Defender, Metro Conflict Defender Office, and the Henry County Public Defender. She helped implement a statewide forensic resource for Georgia’s public defenders. Ava also provided DNA expert services in felony cases — including rape, murder, and aggravated assault prosecutions — across Georgia. She remains a forensic DNA resource to the legal community today. For injury clients, this expertise directly translates to mastering medical records, understanding expert testimony, and challenging insurance companies’ versions of the science.
Modern personal injury cases increasingly turn on technical evidence. This includes imaging studies in brain injury claims, causation opinions in medical malpractice suits, data and reconstruction analysis in trucking collisions. Ava reads that material the way she was trained to in fifteen years of laboratory work: skeptically, methodically, and with an insistence on documentation. When a defense expert overstates a finding or an insurer cherry-picks a medical record, she catches it — because evaluating evidence to a scientific standard was her profession long before it became her advantage.
“My goal is to use my experience and expertise to help good people overcome their legal challenges.”
Ava is not an advocate who parachuted into the community — she grew up in it. Raised in Brooks, Georgia and educated at Griffin High School, she now represents injured neighbors from the same towns she has called home her whole life. That local perspective matters in personal injury work: juries are drawn from these communities, and few things serve a client better than a lawyer who genuinely knows and belongs to the place where the case will be decided.
Ava’s connection to the firm is personal. She grew up as high school friends and neighbors with founder Jordan Jewkes, and worked at The Jewkes Firm before law school.
After passing the bar, she returned—because, in her words, “there was no attorney more honest and hardworking than Jordan Jewkes.”
She honors being mentored by the best and shares Jordan’s passion for helping our family, friends, and community when they cannot help themselves.
Ava holds a J.D. from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (2019) and a Master of Science in Molecular Biology from Georgia State University (2002). She was admitted to the Georgia State Bar in 2019 and holds ABHI certification in histocompatibility and immunogenetics.
Attorney — The Jewkes Firm, LLC
Ava K. O’Brien is a personal injury attorney at The Jewkes Firm, LLC. She is one of the few lawyers in Georgia who transitioned from a research laboratory to the courtroom. A native of Brooks, Georgia, and a Griffin High School graduate, Ava represents injured clients across South Atlanta with both a scientist’s rigor and a neighbor’s loyalty.
In contrast, Ava’s journey to law sharply differs from Jordan’s.
Ava earned her master’s degree in Molecular Biology, specializing in molecular genetics, from Georgia State University in 2002. She then spent fifteen years working in the laboratories at Emory University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Piedmont Healthcare. Certified by the American Board of Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics (ABHI), she specialized in DNA testing techniques — a scientific pedigree few practicing attorneys can match.
In February 2016, Ava served jury duty. What she witnessed in that courtroom both horrified and inspired her. Consequently, three months later, she left her scientific career to pursue the law. She enrolled at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School in January 2017. Ava later earned her J.D. in May 2019, and passed the State Bar of Georgia exam that same year. Since that jury experience, her mission has remained clear: to help everyday people navigate a legal system they never chose.
During law school, Ava interned with the Fulton County Public Defender, Metro Conflict Defender Office, and the Henry County Public Defender. She helped implement a statewide forensic resource for Georgia’s public defenders. Ava also provided DNA expert services in felony cases — including rape, murder, and aggravated assault prosecutions — across Georgia. She remains a forensic DNA resource to the legal community today. For injury clients, this expertise directly translates to mastering medical records, understanding expert testimony, and challenging insurance companies’ versions of the science.
Modern personal injury cases increasingly turn on technical evidence. This includes imaging studies in brain injury claims, causation opinions in medical malpractice suits, data and reconstruction analysis in trucking collisions. Ava reads that material the way she was trained to in fifteen years of laboratory work: skeptically, methodically, and with an insistence on documentation. When a defense expert overstates a finding or an insurer cherry-picks a medical record, she catches it — because evaluating evidence to a scientific standard was her profession long before it became her advantage.
“My goal is to use my experience and expertise to help good people overcome their legal challenges.”
Ava is not an advocate who parachuted into the community — she grew up in it. Raised in Brooks, Georgia and educated at Griffin High School, she now represents injured neighbors from the same towns she has called home her whole life. That local perspective matters in personal injury work: juries are drawn from these communities, and few things serve a client better than a lawyer who genuinely knows and belongs to the place where the case will be decided.
Ava’s connection to the firm is personal. She grew up as high school friends and neighbors with founder Jordan Jewkes, and worked at The Jewkes Firm before law school.
After passing the bar, she returned—because, in her words, “there was no attorney more honest and hardworking than Jordan Jewkes.”
She honors being mentored by the best and shares Jordan’s passion for helping our family, friends, and community when they cannot help themselves.
Ava holds a J.D. from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (2019) and a Master of Science in Molecular Biology from Georgia State University (2002). She was admitted to the Georgia State Bar in 2019 and holds ABHI certification in histocompatibility and immunogenetics.
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