Ms. Claudia Susan Saari

Claudia Saari is the recently retired Circuit Public Defender for DeKalb County, Georgia.  Ms. Saari received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a law degree from Emory University. She joined the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office in 1987 and over the next three decades tried a wide variety of cases ranging from DUI to death penalty cases.  Ms. Saari led an office of over 110 people who represented clients in all courts.

 Ms. Saari is a Fellow with the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL), a 1999 graduate of Leadership DeKalb, a Master with the Carley-Clarke Inn of Court, a member of the State Bar Board of Governors, a former Chairperson of the Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency, and Chairperson for the State Bar Indigent Defense Committee. Ms. Saari also serves on a number of committees and boards including the State Bar, ACTL, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Georgia Association of Women Lawyers, and Olmsted Linear Park.  In 2009, Ms. Saari was the recipient of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Indigent Defense Award, a recipient of the GACDL President’s Commitment to GACDL Award, in 2016 she was honored by the American Constitution Society with its Legal Legend Award, and in 2020 she received the Gideon’s Promise John Lewis Lifetime Achievement Award.