Lisa Douglass began her career serving as a public defender in Seattle for four years, initially representing juveniles in criminal proceedings and later, adults in felony cases.

As a public defender, Lisa was known for her compassionate and zealous advocacy on behalf of her clients and her success in obtaining drastically reduced se4ntences for her mentally-ill clients. She partnered with a social worker to develop community-based treatment plans that judges could choose as alternatives to incarceration. She later left the public defender’s office to join a plaintiff’s/public interest law firm and represented indigent clients in Social Security Disability hearings and appeals, ensuring that basic needs such as living stipends and medical benefits could be covered for the rest of her client’s lives.