Jennie Cannady has worked for the San Bernardino County Public Defender’s Office for 19 years. She spent 7 years in the Juvenile Division as a Deputy Public Defender. She has been a Supervising Deputy Public Defender for the Juvenile office of the San Bernardino County Public Defender’s Office for most of her 11 years as a supervisor.
Her distinguished career includes being named 2006 Legal Advocate of the Year by the Children’s Network and earning an Annual Recognition of Service to Youth Award in 2013 from the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission of San Bernardino County.
Jennie has a passion for representing children in San Bernardino County. During her career, Jennie has represented hundreds of children charged with crimes in this county. She has been involved in the collaborative process with other county agencies to help establish protocols for juvenile drug courts, juvenile mental health courts, Court for the Individualized Treatment of Adolescents (CITA) and girl’s court. Jennie has represented clients that were committed to Department of Juvenile Justice, representing them at parole hearings and advocating on their behalf within the institutions.
“The biggest thing I have learned is that you have to build relationships to be an effective advocate,” Jennie said. “You have to be an effective advocate out of court as well as being effective in court.”
Jennie is a graduate of The University of Arizona and Wake Forest School of Law. She is very involved in her community. She is on the board of the Court Appointed Special Advocates of San Bernardino, and is currently the golf chair. She also coached mock trial at Rialto High School, and has been involved for over 10 years. Jennie also collaborated with fellow Deputy Public Defenders Tim Douglass & Ana Lee, along with the SB County Probation Department, to establish the award-winning Gateway Mock Trial Program.