BIDS Board Member Profile: Braden Perry
by Caroline Zuschek, Deputy Capital Appellate Defender
Braden Perry, the current Chair of the Board of Indigents’ Defense Services, graciously takes my call despite his busy schedule and the fact I’d had to rearrange our meeting time more than once. A University of Kansas School of Law graduate who now hails from Mission Hills, Kansas, Braden has been on the Board since 2018. Although the Governor appointed him, Braden specifically pursued the opportunity to serve.
He began his legal career at Blackwell Sanders in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was a member of the criminal defense group. He later joined the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) where he worked as a member of the trial team. He left the CFTC to become a founding partner of Kennyhertz Perry, now a midsize firm in Mission Woods, Kansas. His practice focuses on white-collar criminal defense, government investigations, and financial litigation. As much as 20% of Braden’s practice also consists of criminal appointments in federal courts as a member of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panels in Kansas and the Western District of Missouri. Braden says the bulk of his appointments are on federal drug cases, however, he is also represents individuals accused of complex financial crimes.
It was Braden’s work on the CJA panels that inspired him to seek an appointment on the Board. Through his experience as appointed counsel, Braden became passionate about every individual’s right to have competent, qualified counsel, regardless of their financial situation. Though his appointment work was federal, he became intrigued by the State system and desired to use his experience to help protect individuals’ access to counsel at the state level.
When I asked Braden what lessons he thought attorneys in BIDS could learn from his experience defending clients in the federal system or as a retained attorney, he laughed. He said there is a serious misperception surrounding public defenders and appointed counsel that they are somehow second-tier to retained counsel, when, in fact, they are extraordinarily capable, in many cases even more capable than their retained counterparts. “Public defenders acquire such vast experience in representation,” he explains, “which is important and valuable.” “If anything,” he says, “BIDS should continue to advertise what it does and how they do it.” He believes the agency’s increased recruiting, its increased training, and the new internship program are great ways to showcase the collective knowledge and experience of the agency.
I asked Braden to describe his most memorable experience in a courtroom. He talked about a client charged with multiple offenses who “faced an uphill” battle on some of the charges but adamantly denied committing some of the other charges. At the end of trial, the verdict was split, but the client felt like he had won because the jury believed his story. Braden said this experience was memorable because it taught him that a “win” should be viewed through the lens of each individual client. “You’re not going to win every day,” he said, “But listening to a client and helping them get their day in court can be equally gratifying.” “It is a win.”
For fun, Braden enjoys trying new restaurants with his family. He doesn’t have a favorite – he says they really enjoy new experiences. The best new restaurant he’s tried is Meat Mitch BBQ in Leawood. Braden is also an avid sports fan – specifically, he spends his weekends attending his sons’ sporting events. His oldest, a high school freshman, golfs and swims, while his youngest, who is in seventh grade, plays basketball. He says he also keeps busy with his two dogs, Judge and Birdie.
“That is a lot to balance,” I remark. Braden responds, “I’ve been an attorney for 20 years. To last that long in this porfession, you have to learn work-life balance. If you don’t you will either burn out or fail to succeed.” He says when training new attorneys at his firm, he encourages them to find the balance early on, so they can continue to contribute for a long career.
He praised the work of BIDS in recent years for increasingly supporting its employees, which enables long public-defense careers. He highlighted as successes the agency’s focus on securing better compensation for public defenders, ensuring public defenders are treated as fairly as prosecutors, and recruiting and retaining critical support staff who enable attorneys to focus on their cases. “Having a new director has brought fresh eyes to the system. This has created new ideas and opportunities that have helped everyone to continue to work as hard as they do.”
When I asked if he had any advice for the employees of BIDS, he answered immediately. “Keep doing what you are doing. The work public defenders do is extremely important. Continue on with the goal of providing good legal advice for those who can’t pay. And know the Board appreciates the work you do.”