The Department of Public Advocacy (DPA) is dedicated to equal and fair treatment both in the legal system and in its own workplace. Toward this end, DPA has named public defender Cheyla Bush as its first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Cheyla earned a degree in psychology and her law degree both from the University of Louisville. Since joining DPA in 2015, she has served as a staff attorney in the LaGrange, Shelbyville, and Frankfort trial offices. She has been active in DPA efforts to recruit an excellent and diverse workforce, representing DPA at job fairs throughout the country. Cheyla brings a wealth of experience to this role.
As DEI Director, she will serve on DPA’s Leadership Team and will lead the agency’s efforts both to build diverse, inclusive, and supportive workplaces and to address inequities in the legal system. She will serve as resource for all employees and an important advisor to DPA’s leaders. As attorneys litigate cases involving disparate treatment of clients based on race, gender, ethnicity, or other grounds, Cheyla will serve as a consultant or direct litigator to develop challenges to discriminatory practices.
The Department of Public Advocacy is proud to welcome Cheyla Bush to leadership in this vital and hopefully transformative role.