“My reasons for joining FASD Board is to continue supporting one of the only organizations in the country that have been conducting trainings for the criminal justice committee for the last 20 years. During the past 10 years FASD United has also been one of the only no-profit organizations to be asked to support amicus brief’s on cutting edge legal issues involving cases Before the United States Supreme court and various federal courts around the US.”

FASD United Board Member

Billy Edwards is considered one of the early pioneers in the training of attorneys around issues involving fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Billy has organized FASD trainings around the United States and in 8 countries, consulted with attorneys in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and England. He has also consulted with several federal public defender offices around the United States in putting together amicus briefs in both the federal courts and the United States Supreme Court, with FASD United, formerly the National Organization on FAS being the amicus on issues relating to FASD.

William (Billy) Edwards is a Deputy Public Defender in Los Angeles, California, working in the Los Angeles County Mental Health Court, representing clients with mental illness and neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive disorders. He has been with the Los Angeles County Public Defender for nearly 25 years. He also works in the Neurocognitive Disorders Unit with his office. Before working in Los Angeles, Billy worked on capital habeas appeals in Florida, and a paper he co-authored on people with intellectual disabilities on death row in the United States was published and has been cited broadly, including before the U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia.

He currently serves as the Chair for the FASD United Justice advisory committee.  Mr. Edwards was the founder of the Justice Advisory Committee in 2017. Mr. Edwards was recently awarded the 2025 Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights from The American Bar Association. This is a lifetime achievement award.