CCJ Directory

Kelli Thompson is the Wisconsin State Public Defender. Kelli began her career with the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office (SPD) in 1996, working first as an intern while attending law school and then being hired as a Trial Attorney in the SPD’s Milwaukee Trial Office. In 2001, Kelli went to work for a public relations firm, Zigman Joseph Stephenson, as Legislative Counsel. In 2002, she was appointed as a Commissioner to the Wisconsin Personnel Commission. Kelli returned to the SPD in 2003 and served as Training Director, Legal Counsel, and Deputy State Public Defender before being appointed State Public Defender in 2011.

Kelli has been elected and appointed to a number of legal-profession organizations, including Chair of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association; Member of the Wisconsin Statewide Criminal Justice Coordinating Council; Co-chair of the Treatment Alternatives and Diversions (TAD) Advisory Group; Co-chair of the Evidence Based Decision Making Committee; Wisconsin Court’s Planning and Policy Advisory Committee; Friends of UW Law’s Remington Center; Wisconsin Innocence Project and the Marquette Law School Advisory Board. Additionally, Kelli is active in a variety of community organizations, including the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Badgerland, Wisconsin Women in Government Past-President and Past-Vice President and volunteer with the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation. Kelli received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1993, and her law degree from Marquette University in 1996.