About me
Kirsten Gettys Downs currently serves the citizens of Baltimore as the District Public Defender for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore City. In this role, Ms. Downs is committed to providing Baltimore City with client centered, and well-trained advocates at all levels. Since joining the agency in 2007, Ms. Downs has held several roles at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. She has served as the Deputy District Public Defender in Montgomery County, the Chief Attorney for the Western District Court Division in Baltimore City, and as an Assistant Public Defender in both the District and Circuit Courts of Prince George’s County. In addition to her legal work at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, Ms. Downs has served as a Federal Public Defender in the US Virgin Islands and as Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice under Janet Reno.
Throughout her career, Ms. Downs has sought out ways to engage her local community and serve as an “accountability warrior” and community stakeholder. Currently, she is a member of the Collaborative Planning and Implementation Committee for the Baltimore City Consent Decree, which focuses on issues of behavioral health and police accountability. She is also a member of the Communications, Advocacy & Policy Committee of Behavioral Health Systems Baltimore and the Overdose Fatality Review Team with the Baltimore City Health Department. Ms. Downs has served as a member of the Baltimore City Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, the Acting Chair of the Prince George’s County Pro Bono Committee, Strategic Planning Chair for Thresholds, Inc. - a volunteer organization providing training to local inmates, Member of the Working Group on Diversity at the US Department of Justice, and Board Member of Massachusetts Advisory Council for the US Commission on Civil Rights. Additionally, she is a trainer and group leader for the National Association of Public Defenders Executive Leadership Institute and currently serves as a faculty trainer for the Office of the Public Defender’s New Attorney Training Program.
Ms. Downs is a native of Philadelphia and received her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and her law degree at the University of California at Berkeley. Beginning with her law school days, Ms. Downs has worked with organizations that uplift and empower women and girls. Ms. Downs was the Project Coordinator for the Graduate Women’s Project, organized the yearly Women of Color Conference, served on the Berkeley Women’s Law Journal, and was a founding member of the Women of Color in Public Interest in the San Francisco Bay area. She is a member of the Community Outreach Committee of the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys and has served a Board Member for the Southwest Baltimore Charter School, Board Secretary for Girl LEAD (a project serving girls in Baltimore City and Sierra Leone) and as a Board Member of the US Virgin Islands Girl Scout Council.
