Kimberly Scroggins

I have been working in the courts and legal field for 17 years. Before joining the courts, I worked at the Dayton Urban League as an assistant to the person who did fundraising. After they closed, I was a stay-at-home mom for a while, and then I applied for a job at City Hall as an administrative assistant in the Law Department, where I worked for a year. One of the attorneys there, who was like the second attorney in charge, was appointed judge by the governor. After about 6 months, she asked me how I would feel about being a bailiff, and I came down to see what it was like. It actually wasn't bad, so I came with her to the courts as her deputy bailiff. I did that for about 12 years before getting promoted to my current position as Judicial Executive Assistant for Honorable Judge Deirdre E. Logan. In my role, I work very closely with the judge and run the office when she's not here. I'm one of the first people you come to, and I serve as a liaison between the judge and the attorneys, the public, and other staff members. I still do bailiff duties on Wednesdays because we have a specialty housing docket, and our office is cross-trained, so when our bailiff is off, I step in. I think I'm the only administrative assistant that still goes in the courtroom as bailiff when needed. I went back to school at St. Clair and earned my Associate's degree in Criminal Justice a couple years ago. I waited until all our kids were done with college before I went back to school myself, and I did it while working full-time and being a mother and wife full-time. The judge really encouraged me to go back to school and helped me through it. Going to school gave me a different perspective on the law - you're used to what society says or what the media says about the law, but when you're on this side, you get to see the actual way everything works, the way everything flows, all the steps for everything, so you get a greater respect for it. I always treat everybody how I want to be treated. Everybody's used to me walking around whistling or being just having this bubbly personality. You already have a lot of people that are here for different reasons, and they don't need someone else as their first contact with the courts being rude or anything, so I try to definitely treat them the way I want to be treated.