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About Shelby Adams
Relentless, Passionate, Dedicated
Shelby Adams
Shelby Adams is a passionate and dedicated criminal defense attorney based in Lexington, Kentucky. She serves clients across the Commonwealth with a strong belief in second chances and the right to a fair defense. With deep experience in high-stakes criminal cases and a fierce commitment to protecting the rights of the accused, Shelby has built her practice on the principle that every client deserves to be heard, defended and treated with dignity.
Shelby was born in Eastern Kentucky and grew up in Wayne, West Virginia, where she graduated from Wayne High School in 2016. She went on to earn a B.A. in Political Science from Marshall University where she graduated Cum Laude in the spring of 2020. She went on to law school, attending Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law in Highland Heights, Kentucky, outside of Cincinnati.
Shelby was motivated to attend law school after her experience growing up in rural Appalachia ignited her passion for helping those in need. During law school, she explored that passion, figuring out how to best help those who needed it.
She first interned at the Children’s Law Center, a non-profit in Covington, Kentucky, where she sought out educational and housing opportunities for children and teens who were impoverished and marginalized by society. She then interned at the Hamilton County Public Defender Office in Cincinnati, Ohio where during her internship, she represented indigent children in the Youth Defense Division. For clinic hours, she practiced with her limited license in the Constitutional Litigation Clinic. In this practice-ready clinic, she represented individuals incarcerated through the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, fighting injustices incurred to these individuals through civil litigation.
In May of 2023, Shelby graduated from Salmon P. Chase College of Law. At graduation, Shelby was presented with the prestigious Salmon P. Chase Award, an award given to the graduating student whose law-related volunteer work best represented the spirit of advocacy Salmon P. Chase displayed as a lawyer before his political and judicial careers.
After graduation, Shelby began her career at the Hamilton County Public Defender Office as a Municipal Trial Attorney in the Adult Municipal Division. As a public defender, she has successful first-chair trial attorney experience across a range of bench and jury trials. Shelby has consistently delivered outcomes that protect her clients from unnecessary penalties and lifelong consequences as a public defender. Now in private practice, Shelby combines the grit of a public defender with the personalized service of a solo practitioner. She serves clients across Kentucky with a sharp legal mind, compassionate heart, and relentless dedication to justice.
Office Hours
Monday-Friday: 8 am to 5 pm
24-Hours: Call or Text
859-308-6107
Lexington Office
271 W. Short Street
Suite 208
Lexington, KY 40507
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