Public Defenders working in Chicago & Cook County work tirelessly to represent countless litigants. Join us for an insider’s perspective as we talk with Nishá Dotson, Esq., Attorney-At Law, & Assistant Public Defender in the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, about her experience & perspective.

Nishá N. Dotson, Esq is a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois from Houston, TX. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, LA where she majored in Pre-Law and Political Science with a minor in Biology and received the Political Science Scholar Award and the honor of Dean’s List Scholar. She received her Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, OH where she received Dean’s Honor List recognition, the Martin Luther King Jr. Award, the Leadership Award, the CALI Excellence for the Future Award and the Paul J. Hergenröeder Award for Trial Tactics.

After law school, she began practicing law in Chicago, IL and has been practicing for ten years now. She began her legal career in private practice and managed her own law firm. Her practice focused on representing clients in the areas of family law, employment law, criminal law, personal injury law, wills and trusts law, just to name a few. After managing her own firm, she embarked upon a new journey as an Assistant Public Defender with the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, which is the current position she holds. She is a felony trial attorney in the Felony Trial Division of her office and litigates major criminal felony cases from nonviolent offenses such as controlled substance possession, forgery and embezzlement to violent offenses such as vehicular hijacking, armed robbery, criminal sexual assault and attempt murder.

She is also an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she teaches a trial practice and advocacy course and is also one of the coaches for the Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Team. She is a member of The Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago (LAGBAC), the Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago, Inc. (BWLA) and the Chicago Bar Association (CBA).