Cliff Wilson Jr.

Cliff Wilson Jr. is a sixth generation North Floridian who was born in Lake City, Florida.  His parents moved to Baker County (Glen St. Mary) where he attended the public school system where his mother taught for many years.  Cliff moved back to Columbia County when he was 16 years old to attend Lake City Community College as an Early Enrollment student during his senior year of High School.  In 1991, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida and then attended the Cumberland School of Law of Samford University.  Cliff received many awards and accolades in law school, including being a recipient of the President’s Scholarship and being selected to be a member of the Cumberland Law Review. He graduated with honors in 1996 and was inducted, post-graduation, into the Curia Honoris honor society in recognition of his superior academic achievement during his time in Law School.

Shortly after graduation, Cliff began his legal career at the Third Circuit Public Defender’s Office where he had previously interned while attending Law School.  He worked in both the Lake City and Live Oak offices during the nearly four years that he was employed as an Assistant Public Defender.  After leaving the Public Defender’s Office in 2000, Cliff had a private law practice for over 8 years in Lake City where he focused primarily on criminal defense.  In 2008, he began working for the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel – Region 1 (Regional Counsel) where he was one of the first attorneys hired by this newly formed state agency.  While at Regional Counsel, Cliff handled criminal cases in several counties in the Third Circuit and was promoted to the Circuit Director position for the Third Circuit in 2013. In 2016, he was named to serve as the Chief Assistant for the entire Region 1 which encompasses 32 counties, 14 offices, and over 125 employees from Jacksonville to Pensacola.

During his career, Cliff has handled thousands of criminal cases in the Third Circuit ranging from hunting and fishing violations to Capital First Degree Murder and has litigated criminal matters in every county of the Circuit. He was also a member of, and eventually supervised, the Regional Counsel’s Capital Litigation team from 2013 until 2020, handling Death Penalty cases from Pensacola to Jacksonville, and is qualified as a Lead Attorney in a Capital Case as defined by the Rules promulgated by the Florida Supreme Court.  In 2017, he graduated from the Certified Public Manager (CPM) program through the Reubin Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University.

Cliff has been married to his wife, Andrea, since 2005 and they live with their pets in the Deep Creek area in northern Columbia County.  Cliff and Andrea both share a love for anything outdoors and enjoy their rural lifestyle in the country.