Jeffrey L. Thomas was an Air Force captain and judge advocate from 1986 to 1990 working primarily in the area of criminal law. He served as the chief of military justice at Loring Air Force Base, Maine, and then as an area defense counsel with the United States Air Force Trial Judiciary First Circuit. In 1990, he joined the Omaha law firm of McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman & Lepp, P.C., concentrating in commercial litigation and employment discrimination cases in federal courts throughout the Midwest. Since 1994, his practice has been devoted exclusively to criminal law. He served on the felony trial staff of the Douglas County Public Defender’s Office for three years, trying jury cases in homicide and other serious felony cases.
In 1997, he joined the office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Nebraska, and presently tries cases in the United States District Court, and handles appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and United States Supreme Court. He has previously taught small group sections of legal writing.