MADISON, Wis. — As Women's History Month comes to an end, one newly-appointed Madison-area Circuit Court Judge says she is proud and privileged to carry out her duty of upholding law and order.

What You Need To Know

  • Judge Nia Trammell appointed in August of 2020 by Governor Tony Evers to Dane County Circuit Court
  • Her honor, a Southern Nigerian immigrant, never thought she could be a judge, or even a lawyer growing up in Madison
  • A smart mind led her to UW School of Law school but a bad grade almost made her quit
  • The mother-of-three believes in balancing the scales by being patient and deeply listening to cases for best judgements 

Appointed by Gov. Tony Evers this past August, Dane County Circuit Judge Nia Trammell knows she is trailblazing a path forward for generations to come — as she leads by example.

"It's amazing that it took 172 years before Dane County saw its first African-American female judge, and so that does bring a lot of hope, and I hope that from this, other children that look like me, think that they can aspire to the highest heights," Judge Trammell said.

The Southern Nigerian Immigrant moved to Madison in her formative years and hopes she can continue to encourage  at-risk youth like herself to aspire to prominent positions.

"I guess I would say when I was a little girl, I never imagined that someone who looked like me, that grew up in poverty, and really didn't have any lawyers in their family would ever be in a position such as this," Trammell said.

Despite a brilliant mind, the legal career wasn't always something she was so confident about pursuing. In fact, at one point, she almost dropped out of UW Law School, when one class didn't go her way.

"I felt like a complete failure," she said about the difficult experience. "I didn't fail the course, but it was a grade that disappointed me greatly."

Luckily upper-class members helped see that she could trudge through the storm, and their sympathetic ear and advice paid off, as she received her highest grade ever the next semester.

"You can always pick up, no matter what the adversity is as long as you keep trying. And so that's a story that I share quite frequently with students when I'm meeting with them because I do want them to know, but no one is perfect," Judge Trammell said.

The mother-of-three believes in tenacity and ruling with patience and understanding.   

"I think coming from a background where I've experienced poverty, where I'm a woman of color, where I'm also an immigrant, all those other things are layers in terms of what I bring, as far as experience to the bench," she said about the legacy she hopes she leaves.