Bias builds off childhood motivations

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Stories of the Civil Rights movement and inequities in the justice system in the South propelled Jennifer Bias to make a difference as an attorney in the Midwest.

“It all motivated me,” said Bias, who grew up in Iowa hearing the history of her southern-born parents. “The impression was: go to school … get a great education, help people, help your community and help people who are disadvantaged.”

She decided to pursue law in eighth grade, when she saw Barbara Jordan, the first black woman elected to the Texas Senate, speak at the Richard Nixon’s impeachment hearings in 1974.

“Her eloquence and her knowledge of constitutional law motivated me and inspired me,” Bias said. “I wanted to do that, be a person who could speak that way.”

To stay true to her parents’ ideals, she decided to become a public defender. Over the course of nearly 30 years, she has risen from assistant public defender in Racine County, to regional manager, to deputy director of the state’s trial division; a position she’s held for 13 years.

Along the way, she has participated in gubernatorial committees on racial disparity and helped implement specialized practice groups within the public defender’s office. Specializing has allowed attorneys to learn about everything from forensics to immigration law, and then share their knowledge with other public defenders.

“It’s raising the level of service,” Mike Tobin, Wisconsin’s deputy state public defender, said.

Bias speaks frequently at schools and community events, educating students and parents about the juvenile justice system and how changes to the juvenile code in the mid-1990s basically left children subject to be treated legally as “mini adults,” she said.

“It’s important for all kids to be aware that there are laws on the books that will impact your future and can derail it entirely if you’re at a party one night and you make a bad decision,” Bias said. “And I think a lot of that is unknown by parents and certainly unknown by kids. I felt like kids needed fair warning.”

Her hope is that kids will think before they act and, maybe, even tell a friend.

“Maybe that’s Pollyanna and naïve of me,” Bias said, “but we have a campaign in our office that says, ‘The best defense is no offense.’ The best way I can defend you as a public defender is for you to not ever get involved.”