Mom, Debra, shares years of experience as she works for her son, attorney Devin Vaughn
By David Blanchette
If the Vaughn Law Office in Jacksonville treats the new legal secretary like she’s family, that’s because she is.
“Whenever I have a new client in here I say that my secretary is named Debra and that I also call her Mom sometimes,” said Devin Vaughn, the law office practitioner. “People might think, ‘Oh, you hired your mom, you couldn’t find anybody else,’ but that’s not the case. She has been working in this profession for longer than I have been alive, and she’s truly been an asset to me.”
Debra joined Devin as the legal secretary for Vaughn Law early this year and has helped to keep her son’s busy practice operating smoothly as he juggles private cases with his duties as the Morgan County Chief Public Defender.
“We kind of hit the ground running, there was no training period, it was basically here it is and she went to work,” Devin said. “I always envisioned her coming to work for me at some point.”
Debra characterized the new family working relationship as “a work in progress” but acknowledged, “I think we know each other well enough that we’re not afraid to speak our minds. … He lets me know when he doesn’t like something and I do the same back.”
The Vaughns’ familial work story began in June 1985 when Debra, who lived in Virginia at the time and worked at a drugstore there, met John Knuppel, an attorney with an office next door. “[Knuppel] told me I needed to come and work for him,” she said, and thus began Debra’s legal secretary career.
Debra soon thereafter got married to husband Wes and moved to Jacksonville, but spent most of her career working for a law firm in Petersburg. She made the long, nearly hour-long commute between Jacksonville and Petersburg every day, something she does not miss, and worked alongside a number of attorneys who have since become judges, including Chris Reif, Kevin Tippey and Roger Thomson.
Meanwhile Debra and Wes started a family and had four children, the youngest of whom was Devin. Although Devin had grown up watching his mother work in the legal profession, Debra was “completely surprised when he came home one day and told me he was going to law school,” she said. “I was happy but it took me by surprise.”
Devin graduated from Illinois College and “really didn’t know what my career trajectory was going to be,” but had grown up watching his mother and “decided law school might be a good fit, and I think it’s worked out pretty well,” he said.
Devin graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale Law School in 2018 and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in May 2019. He was an associate for more than two years at the law firm where Debra worked, Grosboll Tice Barr & Courtney in Petersburg. When he and his wife purchased a home in Jacksonville, Devin was on the lookout for opportunities in his hometown.
That opportunity came when Devin was named the Assistant Public Defender in Morgan County. Around the same time he became an associate at the law firm of Bellatti, Fay, Bellatti & Beard in Jacksonville. Devin was named the Morgan County Chief Public Defender in July 2023, and two months later opened his own firm, Vaughn Law Office, in Jacksonville.
As the public defender, Devin represents those charged with crimes in Morgan County who cannot afford to hire their own attorney, including everything from misdemeanors to murder. His private practice consists of a wide range of cases including divorce, custody, estate planning, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, litigation and real estate transactions.
Devin’s private practice office at the corner of North West and Court streets is literally across the street from the Public Defender’s office, and across the intersection from the Morgan County Courthouse.
“After Devin started his private practice he said several times, ‘when are you going to come work for me?’” Debra said. “I just kind of put him off thinking that was not going to happen.”
But the legal stars seemed to align recently when the senior partner in the Petersburg firm with whom Debra had worked since 1986 announced last year that he was going to retire. Debra began to think about the possibility of a job much closer to home in Jacksonville.
Meanwhile Devin had advertised in The Source for a legal secretary but had not been able to find the right candidate.
“I knew Devin needed somebody really bad, he had tried to find somebody that would fit in,” Debra recalled. “He was looking for someone with experience who could help him right away because he was so busy.”
Devin said he “one hundred percent breathed a sigh of relief” when his mother agreed to come and work for him because “my practice has really taken off.”
Debra hit the ground running, which was just what Devin needed.
“He’s extremely busy right now and he’s always running from one building to another,” Devin’s mom and legal secretary Debra said. “I always see him putting on his suit jacket as he’s heading out the door for another case.”
Debra jokingly described she and her son’s contrasting but complementary work styles as “fire and ice,” with Debra being the more meticulous, detail-oriented person and Devin more the “shoot from the hip” type. Devin agreed with that characterization, and expressed appreciation that his mom helps to keep his public defender and private practice duties better organized.
Debra is also the babysitter two days per week for Devin and his wife Madalyn’s three sons, four-year-old Baker, two-year-old Jude and one-year-old Mannix.
The mother and son co-workers are pleased with the new arrangement and have a mutual respect for each other. Debra opined that Devin “has done very well and I’m proud of him,” while Devin felt blessed that “I get to see my mom every day at work.”
