Julie Blanks was born and raised in southern Illinois. Her mother was a teacher who home-schooled all her children through high school.

Julie Blanks went on to become an honors graduate of Southern Illinois University where she received her bachelor of arts degree in English in 2004. Prior to that, she earned an associate degree of arts from Rend Lake College in Ina, Illinois.

She attended law school at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she also worked in a civil practice clinic that provided free legal services for the elderly. She was the recipient of the SIU Law Academic Scholarship in 2005 to 2008. She served as vice president for the Student Bar Association from 2007 to 2008. She received her law degree in 2008 and passed the Illinois State Bar exam in October of that year. Soon after, she began working for a workers’ compensation firm in Springfield, Illinois.

She was hired to work in the Decatur office of Hausmann-McNally in May of 2010 where she focuses her skills on helping victims of automobile, motorcycle and truck accidents. In her leisure time, she is a TurboKick instructor and fitness coach.