30 Under 30 - Abbi Hallman

Words by Anna Duncan Owens | Image by Al Blanton

When a case reaches post-conviction review, it often means every other door has already closed. That is precisely where Abbi Hallman’s work begins.

As an associate post-conviction attorney at Maxwell Tillman Trial Lawyers, Abbi reviews case files to determine whether someone still has a path back into court. Her work includes Rule 32 petitions, expungements, parole advocacy, and other relief efforts for individuals who may feel they have exhausted every option. For many clients, post-conviction review represents their last meaningful opportunity to be heard.

Originally from Jasper, Abbi moved to Birmingham to attend Birmingham-Southern College before earning her law degree from Cumberland School of Law and passing the bar in 2023. As a first-generation college graduate and first-generation attorney, she entered the profession without a built-in roadmap. That experience shaped her understanding of access, opportunity, and the responsibility that comes with advocating inside a complex legal system.

Though she once planned to pursue environmental law, her perspective evolved through education and experience. Hearing Anthony Ray Hinton, who was wrongfully incarcerated for nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row, speak reinforced a belief that continues to guide her practice, reflected in the words of Hinton’s attorney, civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson: “Each of us is more than the worst thing we have ever done.”

Helping someone return home through parole advocacy, she says, never feels routine. “It’s a responsibility I carry with humility.” 78