Job: Assistant District Attorney
Salary Range: The national, entry-level median salary is $52,827. Pay varies by jurisdiction. Bailey puts her range at $80,000 to $95,000.
Worker: Brandy Bailey
Age: 39
Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering; juris doctor degree
Company: Child Abuse Unit, Cameron County District Attorney’s Office
Some experiences are so powerful that they change your career trajectory. A children’s rights law clinic convinced Brandy Bailey to set aside her engineering background and devote her life to pursuing justice for suffering kids. The self-described introvert who once avoided public speaking now works as a lawyer who specializes in prosecuting child sexual abuse cases in the southern tip of Texas.
Getting to do the kind of work that moves her most took some time, though. Bailey, 39, spent years building a track record of success winning tough cases before she and a colleague pitched their boss on the idea of creating a special child-abuse unit.
Bailey took time out from court appearances, child interviews and jail visits to discuss with U.S. News why she pivoted in her career path and how she convinced her boss to support her passion project.
Tell me about your work.
I’m a prosecutor here in Cameron County, Texas. I work for the district attorney, the highest-level attorney for criminal cases in our county. Any crime that’s going to be prosecuted comes through our office.
For the past five years, I’ve been a part of our child-abuse unit. I also handle whatever special cases are assigned to me.
We try to foster good communication with other professionals in our community who also deal with child sexual abuse to make sure from the get-go we provide the best services to the child and family and also have the best outcome in the end through the prosecution process. We work closely with law enforcement and provide training for them.
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Why did you make the switch from engineering to law?
I got my undergraduate degree at Texas A&M University with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. I was about to graduate and realized it was not what I wanted to do after interning. A friend of mine was going to apply for law school and take the LSAT. I thought, “I’ll give that a try,” kind of on a whim.
What’s wonderful about law school is it doesn’t matter what your undergraduate degree was. I got into a really good law school, and I think part of that was being an engineer and having something different than your typical law student.
I found it exciting, but a little overwhelming, going from engineering, where everything is black and white and you have that answer at the end of the formula, to law school, where it seems like nothing is black and white. It was difficult, the shift in my brain, because the process is so different.
I felt it was a new adventure to go on. I’ve always felt like no matter what, I’m always going to have choices. I’m never going to be stuck, and I’m never going to let myself feel that way.
How did you get interested in children’s rights?
I went with the intention of being a patent attorney and using my engineering degree. But while in law school, I took a children’s rights clinic. My job as an attorney ad litem was to go and speak with the children, find out what’s going on and tell the court my opinion on what I thought was best for that child, whether they should go back with their family.
I never wanted to stand in front of a jury or speak in front of people; I’m more of an introvert. But when I stood in the courtroom for the first time on behalf of a child and could see how my words could have such power and help a child who was in such a bad situation, it changed the direction of what I wanted to do.
I also volunteered as a court-appointed special advocate. Through that, I was appointed a case with a girl; I was with her all three years I was in law school. That one was definitely impactful. When I first met her, she was in foster care, going from foster care to foster care to foster care and didn’t know what was going to happen. She was dealing with all sorts of issues. Now she has a wonderful life, a wonderful husband, beautiful children. To see that you can be a positive part of something that was in such a dark place, I think is one of the reasons I’m doing what I do now.
What work did you pursue after graduating from law school?
I did a legal fellowship with an organization called International Justice Mission. I went to Mumbai, India, for a year with them and helped however I could as a fresh, new graduate on sex-trafficking cases. A lot of what I did was legal research and writing.
I also got to participate one time in a bar raid where they knew girls had been sex-trafficked. That was very impactful, being able to interact with those girls and seeing they can still be successful and have something wonderful out of their lives despite having to go through a horrible experience.
How did you end up with your current role?
When I got back to Texas, I started looking for prosecution jobs or jobs with district attorney offices. I told myself I would be back in the States for two years, then try to go back to IJM or another nonprofit that does similar work.
Within 10 months, I tried my first child assault and indecency case. I realized I could gain so much valuable experience here and also make an impact in this community.
What inspired you to create a child-abuse unit?
When you’re a frontline prosecutor, you have so many different cases to handle, and you just don’t have the time to focus the amount of attention that’s needed with child sexual abuse cases. They’re incredibly difficult to prosecute.
My really good friend Stephanie Jeanelle Rollins and I had been prosecutors together, and we had tried the first “continuous sexual abuse of a child” case in Cameron County. We had gotten seven life sentences on that one. That pulled us both in to see we could be successful on these cases and we could get really high sentences and so we could take a strong stance on it.
We were both frontline prosecutors who would handle any felony that came before us, but we would always gravitate toward those child sexual abuse cases. You walk in, you get the case and it makes you angry. You think, “I am not going to stop until I am able to get justice for this kid or at least do everything I possibly can to get justice for them.”
We would be dismayed by the outcomes happening from other prosecutors. Not because they didn’t care, but each prosecutor tends to be more passionate about different types of crimes.
One of the driving forces for Stephanie and me to go forward and ask to start this unit is a sexual assault nurse examiner here who oversees all the nurses who do the exams on the kids. She works with different jurisdictions and sees how it can be so much more successful if you have a specialized unit. She was one of the driving forces who was putting it in our ear: “You need to do this.”
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How did you convince your boss to support the idea?
We had gotten a new district attorney in January 2013. We asked if we could start a unit and try to make ourselves experts in the area so we could get better outcomes in prosecution of the cases.
Thankfully it worked out that the very first case tried when my boss took office happened to be another continuous sexual abuse case. We got a good outcome: He got a 50-year sentence. We realized we already had the momentum.
Had it been me on my own, I don’t know if I would have approached [the new boss]. But the two of us together decided, “OK, we’re going to approach him.” We set out a plan of how we thought it could work and why we thought it could work. We had built up a reputation between the two of us, and he knew that. Thankfully he was open for it.
Especially with child sexual abuse cases, if you talk with any professionals, a lot of people say, “That’s awful, but I wouldn’t want to have to deal with that day in and day out because it takes a toll on you.” I don’t fault them at all, but I think that’s how we got the green light, because it alleviates that from other prosecutors so they can focus on the murders and drug cases, all the things that still need our attention but maybe are easier to deal with if you’re not built to deal with child abuse or child pornography cases.
Now our unit has three prosecutors, an investigator and a paralegal. We cover seven district courts down here.
What’s your workday like?
Every day is different. If I’m in trial, pretty much from 8-to-5 I’m in the courtroom.
Sometimes we will have difficulty getting people to come in and meet with us, so we’ll go out to schools and meet kids there. Or we’ll go to the homes. If it takes going to where they are and making them feel comfortable, we’ll take those trips as well.
Occasionally we’ll go into the jails; sometimes we have witnesses who are in custody. Earlier today I was at the police station staffing cases with some detectives.
We encourage law enforcement, if there’s a question, to call us in the middle of the night so we can make sure things are done properly.
How do you deal with the emotional strain?
When I feel like I’m getting stressed out and beyond the point of handling it, I set up a meeting with the child. To see how strong and brave they are, it makes you want to be braver and stronger for them.
I keep a board for the ones who have come out good on the other side. When you get an acquittal on a case like this that you really believe in, it definitely is hard to keep going. You have to remind yourself of the cases where you’ve been successful.
How does technology affect your work?
The perpetrators who commit these crimes on children are getting more and more sophisticated with how they do it because kids often know so much more than their parents.
As a prosecutor, we have to try to stay up-to-date on the different apps they’re using and the devices they’re using. We have to understand it enough to get the answers for the jury to understand.
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What skills do you need?
You need to have analytical skills to answer questions and apply it to the law.
Especially with child-abuse cases, you need to have good people skills because you’re going to be dealing with resistant witnesses or family members. Oftentimes the perpetrator was the breadwinner for that home, and now you’re trying to lock them up forever, so you’re going to have people who get the child to say it was a lie, or get people who refuse to bring the child in. You have to figure out a way to talk to them, help them understand that their involvement is important and necessary. Do I approach them with compassion, do I approach them a little bit more firmly?
You need to be able to communicate well to a jury in such a way that they’re going to understand, whether you’re dealing with DNA evidence or a child.
I really regret not having paid attention in Spanish class. I definitely think some things get lost in translation. If I were able to talk [directly] to a child who was Spanish-speaking, it would help.
What advice do you have for people interested in working as prosecutors?
One thing a lot of people don’t realize is the court rooms are open to the public. Anyone can go and observe. I think it would have helped me to have observed other trials.
Most district attorney programs have intern programs. Most prosecutors want to talk about what they do. Reach out to your DA’s office and ask to speak to a prosecutor one-on-one.
I shied away from any public speaking or debate, those kinds of classes, because I didn’t think that was what I would want to do after I graduated. Those would be good classes to take, where you’re forced to speak in front of people, because as a prosecutor you do that all the time, whether it be in a courtroom or training law enforcement.
What are the perks of your job?
I think a major perk is job satisfaction. I speak to so many different people who wonder if what they are doing with their life or job matters. I know without a doubt that my job as a prosecutor matters. I know that the work we do at the DA’s office makes our community better and safer, whether we got a high sentence on a case or signed a dismissal because that’s what justice called for.
I really enjoy being able to walk a child through this process. I have notes they’ve given me, sometimes I’ll get emails from them that they’re doing well, that they’re able to sleep at night now. Just to know that you’re a small part to help a child do better is probably the most rewarding thing.
When you get that outcome and the judge says, “Take them into custody,” and you know that person will never be able to hurt another child again, that is an amazing feeling. I love that.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Salary information comes from Payscale.com.
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