Rablin fulfills goal of making a difference

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As a young social worker right out of college, Dawn Rablin would sit in courtrooms and feel dismayed by what she was witnessing.

“My boss finally told me if I didn’t like what I saw I should go to law school and do something about it — so that’s what I did,” said Rablin, a regional attorney manager at the Milwaukee Trial Office of the State Public Defender. “I found my calling in the defender’s office.”

In addition to handling a wide variety of cases — everything from misdemeanors to homicides — Rablin also leads and manages the office’s attorneys and professional staff.

The work is not easy, Rablin acknowledged.

“I cry, I get angry, I get frustrated,” she said. “But I stay because we give a voice to those who otherwise might not have one.”

Besides her regular responsibilities, Rablin is the lead defense attorney for Milwaukee County’s Early Intervention Program, where she works with other justice professionals to divert people from the criminal justice system. She said the program helps participants get their lives back on track, whether it’s by staying sober or taking medications.

Paige Styler, an attorney with the State Public Defender’s Office in Milwaukee, said the Early Intervention Program makes a big difference.

“Her advocacy has helped hundreds of Milwaukee County residents live productive lives without the debilitating consequences of a criminal record,” she said.

Rablin has also spent the past several years trying to spread awareness of the role race plays in the criminal justice system. After hearing a speaker discuss the topic at the State Public Defender’s annual meeting, she wondered why more people weren’t spreading the same message.

“I then started talking with prosecutors and judges in Milwaukee County and we formed a small group on the topic,” Rablin said.

She called for the county’s criminal courts to be temporarily closed so that participants in the legal system could get together and talk about race and the criminal-justice system; about 350 people were in attendance.

Rablin said it’s hard to get people to discuss race.

“I hope we are changing hearts and minds,” she said.

This year will be the fourth that the county’s criminal courts have been temporarily closed to allow for a similar discussion.

For her part, Rablin feels like she’s doing what she can to make the system better — something she wanted to do as a young social worker.

“I definitely feel like I am making a difference,” she said.