This week, we step back from interviewing defense attorneys to hear from a different kind of decision-maker. The one who sets the tone of the courtroom, Judge Mario White. Judge White joins us to talk about what it actually takes to make a courtroom feel less like an institution and more like a place where justice is possible. We get into why diversity on the bench goes far beyond filling seats, how plain language can change the experience of someone in crisis, and what it means to truly listen to everyone involved.

For most people, a courtroom is foreign—a place newcomers are suddenly expected to navigate during the hardest moments of their lives. And yet, our legal system only functions if the public trusts it. Trust requires understanding, and understanding requires someone willing to listen and explain.

Judge Mario White has spent his career being that someone.

Before he took the bench in Madison, Wisconsin, he stood beside defendants as a public defender, and before that, he taught math to high schoolers. Each role, it turns out, was training for the same thing: learning how to meet people where they are, and bring them somewhere clearer.

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