Jillian Foye comes from a family of West Point graduates and Army officers, and she is the only one who chose a different path. Although she never served, growing up surrounded by service members taught her the value of self-discipline, attention to detail, and service to others. She now brings those qualities to her civil litigation practice as an associate in the firm’s Wilmington office.
Jillian is drawn to litigation for its variety. No two matters present the same facts or the same problems to solve, and she enjoys digging into each one to understand what is at stake for her clients. She approaches every case with the thoroughness and discipline she learned at home, so that clients have a clear picture of their options as their matters move forward.
Before joining Hedrick Gardner, Jillian built a broad foundation in legal research, writing, and litigation support. As a litigation intern with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C., she researched environmental tort law, interviewed witnesses, and prepared declarations for use in ongoing litigation. She also worked on disability rights, health care, and insurance matters through internships with Disability Rights North Carolina, the Legal Action Center, and the National Autism Law Center. Through UNC School of Law’s Military and Veterans Law Clinic, she helped former service members pursue VA disability claims and drafted discharge upgrade briefs. Given her family’s long history of Army service, that work had special meaning for her.
Jillian earned her law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and her Master of Public Policy from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, completing both degrees at the same time. At Duke, she was a Margolis Scholar with the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy and a health equity research assistant at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. She graduated cum laude from Wellesley College with a degree in political science. While there, she was a fellow with the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs and captained the varsity lacrosse team.
Outside the office, Jillian enjoys reading, cooking, and yoga. She and her husband make a point of exploring new corners of North Carolina together.