While most of the candidates we have profiled this election season are for legislative positions, not all have been. But this week we are profiling our first (and only) judge for the 2024 election season!

Kerene Moore (she/her) is a queer social justice attorney with over 15 years of legal and public service experience. She is currently the Director of Conviction Integrity at the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office. She previously served as a juvenile referee and judicial attorney in the Washtenaw County Circuit Court, and as an administrative law examiner with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. She started her career at Legal Services of South Central Michigan where she provided free representation to over 1,000 under resourced clients. In 2014, she also founded Outreach, a pro bono LGBTQ+ advocacy project with University of Michigan law students. Throughout her career, she has served on the committees and boards of several organizations including the Jim Toy Community Center, Equality Michigan, Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, and the Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission. She has also served as co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Law Section of the Washtenaw County Bar Association and is the incoming chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s LGBTQ+ Law Section. Kerene is passionate about increasing access to justice to people from all walks of life, supporting treatment courts, ensuring that crime victims are receiving support, and actively reducing systemic bias in our courts.

Where are you based?
I am a native Detroiter, and moved to the Ann Arbor area to attend the University of Michigan for undergraduate and law school. Although I returned to the metro-Detroit area briefly after law school, my family has resided in the Washtenaw community for approximately 24 years, and I am raising three children in Ann Arbor Public Schools.

What is your position/what position are you running for?
I’m running for 15th District Court Judge, which covers the city of Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County, Michigan. I like to think of district court as the place where people often come in repeatedly for minor offenses, and either receive the resources they need to move forward, or end up going deeper into the criminal justice system. I believe my experience on the ground in the community, in the courtroom as an advocate, and working behind the bench as a judicial attorney and juvenile referee gives me unique insight and motivation. I know that we can challenge the system to create a more inclusive justice system. I know that we can do more to protect victims, and level the playing field for pro se litigants. Finally, I know that I have the ability to connect with treatment court participants and help each find an individualized path forward.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
Our justice system continues to fail the community in a number of areas. Michigan ranks dead last in provision of crime victim services. Despite representing only 12% of the county’s population, 49.9% of charges are disproportionately pursued against black community members. Finally, many perceive two justice systems — one for those who can and another for those who cannot afford an attorney. 15th District primarily handles evictions, suits for less than 25K, and minor offenses. It also has three treatment courts where judges can offer meaningful early intervention. Through diverse community partnerships, improved and expanded treatment courts, grant funding, data transparency, and ethically-permissible policy reform work, I will work to improve victim support, work to decrease bias, and increase access to justice for all litigants, not just those who can afford an attorney.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your story.
I went to law school because I wanted to help people and quickly went searching for opportunities in the community that met my interests. I quickly found the local legal aid office and took my first case for an individual who couldn’t afford an attorney as a first year law student. I was one of the University of Michigan Law School’s first Dean’s Public Service Fellows, committing my career to public interest work and sticking to that path.

Throughout my career, I’ve represented over 1,000 people who could not afford an attorney, fought discrimination at the MI Department of Civil Rights, and served behind the bench as a judicial attorney and juvenile referee in the Washtenaw County Trial Court. I currently handle innocence cases and provide expungement support as the Director of Conviction Integrity in the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's office.

I am a leader in social justice advocacy and also have extensive experience on the ground in the community. I've served as a Library Trustee, a Human Rights Commissioner, and on the boards of Neutral Zone, Equality Michigan, and Jim Toy Community Center. I've trained attorneys regionally and nationally, and have 10 legal publications centered on increasing access to justice. I’m most proud of founding an lgbtq+ pro bono advocacy project with the Outlaws at the University of Michigan, which is going into its 10th year.

I am passionate about increasing access to justice to people from all walks of life, supporting treatment courts, ensuring that crime victims are receiving support, and actively reducing systemic bias in our courts.

What inspired you to run?
I originally aspired to be an appellate court judge, and while that may still be in the cards someday, I was inspired to run for a trial court seat after having the opportunity to hear cases as a juvenile referee, and after a conversation with a former judge.

A few years ago, I was at the National Judicial College with about 30 other prospective judges. We’d just gone through an intensive exercise where we had to practice dealing with difficult litigants and attorneys. A former judge (and trainer) came up to me afterward and asked why I was so laser-focused on becoming an appellate judge. She said, “You’ve got what it takes. You belong on a trial court. Don’t you know that people will listen to you?” And while she hadn’t been the first person to encourage me to be a trial court judge, it was the first time someone said this to me after I’d had to opportunity to work behind the bench as a judicial attorney and hear cases as juvenile referee.

Having had the opportunity to serve behind the bench, I learned that my existence made a difference for people who saw or experienced the justice system as unyielding and broken. In a negligence case, a runaway teen in foster called my line directly when he felt unsafe and needed help. Because he was willing to reach out to me, we were able to get him off the streets and into a safe placement. When a mother did not appear at her child’s hearing because she had to work, I had an advocate call her, and offered her the opportunity to participate virtually. Because of that, she was able to take her child home that day. Where the state wanted to terminate support for a teen who was aging out of the foster system, I found the legal basis for requiring the state to continue care, allowing him to finish his senior year of high school and maintain placement and care with existing treatment providers while being transitioned to other services.

Knowing that my advocacy at the trial court level mattered in a very direct, tangible way, I was willing to run when colleagues encouraged me to run for the open seat. As a kid growing up in Detroit, I personally experienced inequity and systemic bias. I did not believe the world was open to me. My work, however, has been to actively challenge the justice system to be more inclusive. I have the opportunity to use my law license to reduce harm and challenge inequity. Our courtrooms belong to the community. If there’s something we can do to prevent injustice, let’s take the steps necessary to make sure it happens. As a judge, I would take great pride in effectively saying, “Not on my watch.”

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
Victim advocacy, treatment court expansion, and bias reduction will be priorities if I am elected. Victims are at higher risk of returning to the court as offenders if support isn’t received, and offenders often have underlying issues that need treatment. Through changes to court rules and community partnerships, I will work to improve victim access to services. Using my background working with under-resourced community members, I will work hard to connect with treatment court participants and offer individualized, culturally competent treatment plans. With grant funding, I will re-establish the domestic violence treatment court, and create a housing specialty court to improve oversight over probationary agreements. To decrease systemic bias, I will support data transparency efforts, prioritize alternatives to incarceration, and work toward elimination of cash bail.

Where can we find out more about you?
You can read more about me and my list of progressive supporters at MooreJustice2024.com. You can also follow me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/moorejustice2024, or Instagram and Twitter at KereneMoore.

Our Favorite Progressive Candidates in 2024 - Kerene Moore, Michigan 15th District Court