John Helmert is a native of Gulfport, Mississippi. He has four wonderful children: Elizabeth, Jake, Joey, and Amelia. He is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corp. 

He attended Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and graduated in 1998. He then transferred to the University of Mississippi and completed a degree in 2000 with a double major in history and political science. After considering several Ph.D. programs in history, John finally decided to attend law school at the University of Mississippi. He was admitted to the Mississippi Bar on April 29, 2003, and then graduated law school on May 10, 2003. 

Since 2003, John has practiced primarily in the field of indigent criminal defense (with a brief sojourn in the world of election law). He has represented hundreds of indigent people charged with felonies in Mississippi. Dozens of those cases went to trial. He zealously guards the Constitutional rights of his clients and represents them with passion. He came to work at CPCC on July 1, 2023.