Who is Fulton DA Fani Willis?

Fani Willis is the widely respected District Attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, which contains most of Atlanta. She was elected to this position in 2020 with 72 percent of the vote and assumed office in January 2021.

(Megan Varner for The Washington Post)

As District Attorney, Fani Willis represents the government in criminal cases, investigates crimes in Fulton County, and determines if charges should be brought in court. Willis has a positive reputation among other lawyers and elected officials. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter stated "I would hate to have Fani Willis after me. She is a superb trial lawyer and the real deal”. Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat praised her as “the baddest DA in the country” and Atlanta City Council Member Antonio Lewis said she was a “superstar”. DA Fani Willis has decades of experience and is well-known for her level of preparation in her cases.

Willis served as Deputy District Attorney for Fulton County for 17 years. During this time, Willis led more than 100 jury trials and is well known for her work obtaining RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) indictments against alleged members of the Bloods and Drug Rich gangs in Fulton County. Her name entered the national spotlight when, as lead prosecutor, she secured 11 convictions in the trial of Atlanta school officials for falsifying test scores. Willis has led hundreds of trials, specializing in complex cases such as murders.

DA Willis attended Howard University for her undergraduate degree and earned her legal degree from Emory Law School in Atlanta. Prior to joining the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office in 2001, she worked in the private sector for 5 years and opened her own law firm.

Willis is the DA overseeing the two-and-a-half year investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. This investigation focuses on (1) Trump’s phone calls to Georgia officials to “find votes” that would tip the election in his favor, (2) efforts to order a special legislative session to overturn the results of the Georgia Election, (3) voting machine tampering in at least one Georgia county, and (4) the false electors who signed certificates fraudulently claiming Trump won Georgia’s electoral college votes, even though he did not win the majority of votes in the state.