24
THE LEGAL BRIEF
VOLUME 41, ISSUE 1
“ In Re: Willy Larry Jefferson Jr. ”
1. Name and year admitted to Bar: Willy Larry Jefferson Jr. (Named after my dad) Admitted May 1995
2. Areas you practice in: I have practiced Criminal Law for over 25 years. I have represented clients and victims in almost every type of defense case from Murder to crossing the street. I now direct the Office of Public Defense for the State of Washington. We provide administrative support to defense programs all over the state and we are specifically responsible for contracting for Appellate, Parents Representation, 71.09 Civil Commitment, Disproportionality Advocacy, Youth Access to Counsel and many more soon to come. 3. I became a lawyer because . . . I had really no idea I could even be an attorney until my step - father applied for law school. We thought he was crazy. He was. However, he became a very talented attorney. I was able to observe his progress and figured I could do that. I thought as a lawyer I could go into politics or own my business. That never happened. One day I was at home with my daughter and I got the call from Mr. Robinson. He asked if I wanted to become a public defender. (I thought I had already applied and been rejected. I didn ’ t realize there were multiple public defense firms in Seattle – whoops) I said yes. It still took a year and a half to get hired. But since then, I have a been a public defender. It was meant to be, I guess. 4. The hardest part of being a lawyer is . . . Realizing that we do a great job of blaming individuals for systemic injustices. For instance, we blame people for committing crimes yet our nation stole land from the indigenous people that lived here; created laws that upheld slavery; and then pretended to end slavery but denied those people the opportunity to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We have created structural inequalities that continue to deny people access to education, health care and housing. We then blame them for their individual mistakes without providing the reparations or services that would have cured those systemic issues in the first place. Working within our current system is extremely difficult for me. I have hope given case like Henderson v. Thompson – which stated – Whether explicit or implicit, purposeful or unconscious, racial bias has no place in a system of justice. ” That ’ s fire and that ’ s what I ’ m all about. 5. I would give this advice to a first - year law student: Fight, fight, fight. Object, Object, Object. Find a problem and then help solve it. We need you more than you need us. I would never believe that we need more attorneys but we do. We need you to do this job. We need you to do it while fully being aware of your own biases and misinformation that you may bring to it. Despite the obstacles you will face. Do it any ways. I hope that you come with an open mind to challenge systemic injustices for individual victories on behalf of the clients that you will serve. I ask that you not do it for glory or money but for the chance to increase justice for all of us whether they had to wait 400 years or a couple of months to receive it. Justice delayed is justice denied. Please join me through the rule of law to create a brighter future for all of us. We can and must do this together. 6. Traits I admire in other attorneys: Those that fight, challenge and object. They do it with a smile, or with a growl. Sometimes they are inspired or deflated but they still continue the fight. They fight by informing, listening, learning from and advocating with integrity for their clients. I admire attorneys that actually read the law, statute, court rule or case, and then apply to facts of the case. It ’ s basically magic. Magic that can be done by anyone. Your neighbors do it all the time on issues they are passionate about. But a competent attorney brings that type of analysis to every case every time. I also admire attorneys that realize that our adversarial system isn ’ t for every case or everyone. Sometimes harms or disputes can be healed outside of a court room. These harms can be healed in ways that are safe, equitable, victim centered, and inspire accountability. Court is cool but it ain ’ t all that all the time.
(Continued on next page)
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online