Stephen Daniel Demik

Ever since I was a young boy growing up in East Tennessee, I knew that I wanted to contribute to the community by helping those who were less fortunate. My mother was a trailblazer and actively involved in starting the local League of Women Voters branch, starting an office across the way from my elementary school. I have fond memories of doing my homework amid the buzz of activism and community involvement, and it had a profound impact on who I am and why I became a lawyer.

I volunteered in college and taught third grade in Anacostia, in Southeast Washington, D.C. after I graduated. It took a little time for me to realize that, coming from a long genealogy of attorneys, lawyering was in my blood. I realized that my talents as an advocate were the tools that I had to contribute to society and make a change for those of us facing injustice.

Once I graduated law school, I began my career as a lawyer in 2002, representing defendants on death row at San Quentin. While that was a humbling experience and helped me understand the criminal justice system, I knew deep down that I wanted to be, or rather I had to be, a trial attorney. That began a long road of training, trial lawyering, and learning from some of the best trial attorneys in the country. I am like a sponge when it comes to trial lawyering, constantly working to learn and improve with every case and every trial.

No matter what the courtroom, whether a federal court in Los Angeles or a tribal court in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, I pride myself in being a voice for the voiceless and doing everything I can to ensure that every person I represent is treated with respect, gets their rights honored, and gets their story heard in (and out of) court. I have represented people from Guantanamo detainees to Native American activists.