The February issue of Simply Buckhead featured an article about my book written by H. M. Cauley.
Growing up with a single mom who was a busy criminal defense attorney didn’t endear Sandy Springs’ Jason Sheffield to the law. “For instance, as an 8-year-old, I was taught to answer the phone, ‘Sheffield residence. This is Jason speaking. How can I help you?’” he recalls. “I knew her clients were calling from federal prison in the middle of the night. It made me abhor the idea of becoming a lawyer.”
Instead, after graduating from Clemson University, Sheffield spent five years as an EMT, weighing whether to take on medical school. In 1997, he decided to pursue acting and writing, and followed that path for four years until reality set in. “I was acting full-time but living on very little money,” he says. “I was married and not making it. Then my mother suggested law school, and at the time, I thought it would be helpful in the film business.”
At 29, Sheffield found himself at Georgia State’s law school, taking trial classes, where his writing and acting abilities turned out to be an asset. “I suddenly saw that law was something I could do,” he says, “and when the choice came down to boring civil work or exciting criminal trials, well, it was in my blood. I swore I’d never do criminal defense, but here I am.” …