Dawn Porter

Twelve million people are arrested in the United States each year and millions of those cases will proceed through the criminal justice system. It is not uncommon for lawyers to handle hundreds of cases at a time. What does this mean for a system of justice?

Lawyer turned filmmaker Dawn Porter wanted answers to this very question. As the founder of Trilogy Films, she became the director and producer of Gideon's Army, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and debuts on HBO Documentary Films in July 2013. Gideon's Army follows three young public defenders in the Deep South during their daily mission to counsel hundreds of defendants through the strained criminal justice system.

As an alumnus of the Tribeca All Access program, Porter won the 2011 juried Creative Promise Award for Gideon's Army. Realscreen named Porter one of their 2012 Doc Hot Shots 15 emerging directors to watch. Other Trilogy projects include Spies of Mississippi for ARTE Germany and PBS, and a documentary about celebrity Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli for the Cooking Channel.

Before becoming a filmmaker she was the Director of News Standards and Practices at ABC News, and Vice President of Standards and Practices at A&E Networks. Dawn is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Georgetown University Law Center. She was a practicing attorney at Baker & Hostetler and ABC Television Networks before beginning her television career.