Thinking global, acting local

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Many labels apply to Milwaukee’s Ann T. Bowe: attorney, businesswoman, community activist, parent, and “Global Mama.”

Bowe left her busy criminal defense, divorce and “neighborhood law” (meaning “whatever someone in the neighborhood needs”) solo practice in November 2009. She volunteered her legal and business acumen to Global Mamas, an Accra, Ghana, fair-trade nonprofit that helps women and girls become economically independent.

Bowe helped a collective of 70 women — producers of shea butter — learn how to internationally market their product, which is widely used as a moisturizer. Among her tasks was drafting contracts and business plans and offering small-business advice.

“It makes a huge difference in these women’s lives, and I’m a true believer in empowering women — in Africa, Milwaukee, or anywhere. Strengthening women strengthens families, and that strengthens the community,” Bowe said.

Even before she went, Bowe knew the journey would be transformative. Moreover, it was incredibly liberating to inform clients, courts and co-counsel that she’d be taking a service-oriented sabbatical, educating them about Global Mamas in the process.

Bowe decided on a career in law after an internship with the Legal Services Corporation in Washington D.C. left her wanting to do “something public service-y but not criminal law.”

That all changed when she interned for the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, which offered her a job upon her graduation, with no available positions. Then the Public Defender did the same, but in 1980, that brand-new agency had openings.

Bowe said both offices were dedicated to “doing justice” rather than ideologies. But what made indigent defense so exciting at the time was being surrounded by energetic colleagues.

She’s still friends with many of them even though she left the agency some 24 years ago to go into private practice.

Although many people see criminal defense as a litigation practice, she sees it more as “a helping practice.” Bowe is a people person and enjoys making strong, close professional relationships with her clients and the occasional family members who frequently accompany them at office visits and court appearances.

She says, “I’m one of those people who wakes up every day and says, ‘I cannot wait to go to work.’”

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