Jhiela M. Poynter has been an attorney since 2012. Her work is primarily focused on personal injury, probate litigation, and business and commercial litigation.

Jhiela was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California, but moved on when she left for college and never looked back. She graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, cum laude, with a double major in Political Science and English (2009) and earned her Juris Doctor and Graduate Diploma in Comparative Law from Louisiana State University’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2012). Jhiela also further developed her education throughout her schooling by studying in Florence, Italy (2008); Istanbul, Turkey (2010); and Cape Town, South Africa (2011).

Always one to be involved in and give back to her community, Jhiela has also spent years not only doing volunteer work, but also heading up organizations and committees to maximize her contributions to various groups and causes. She held leadership positions in several organizations throughout her college career, most notably serving as President of the College Democrats before and during the 2008 election cycle, and serving as Vice President of the International Studies Society. In law school she served as President of the International Law Society, participated in a clinical program specializing in immigration practice where she fought a successful asylum case, completed an externship with the Innocence Project in New Orleans defending the wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, and worked as a law clerk in firms specializing in both immigration and commercial business.

Jhiela served as President of the Victoria County Bar Association in 2016, and holds membership with the Texas Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Outside of the legal field, she is a member of and active volunteer for the Victoria Junior League, sits on the Ethics Board for the Victoria Advocate, and has participated in the "Leadership Victoria" program through the local Chamber of Commerce.

Having been subject to an 18-wheeler accident in high school, Jhiela has always had a special interest in personal injury litigation and knows first-hand what it is like, not only to pursue these cases from a legal standpoint, but what it feels like from the client’s perspective as well. 

Jhiela and her husband Tim live in Victoria with their son, daughter, two dogs, and two cats. In her free time, she likes to travel and has visited 17 countries and counting.