LEGACY BUILDING
IN SOCIAL WORK:

Derek Mosley graduated from Marquette University Law School in 1995. After graduation he served as an Assistant District Attorney for Milwaukee County from 1995-2002. As an Assistant District Attorney, he represented the State of Wisconsin in over 1,000 criminal prosecutions. Mr. Mosley founded the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Community Prosecution Unit. This unit places assistant district attorneys in various neighborhoods throughout the City of Milwaukee to work with residents to reduce urban blight and to improve the quality of life. As the head of this unit, Mr. Mosley helped to establish after-school programs, he established a Second Chance Felony Employment Initiative for offenders, closed 100 drug houses and nuisance properties, and started a police and citizen crime fighting initiative, which targeted street drug dealing. This initiative called “Operation Streetsweeper” was awarded the Law Enforcement Honor Award by the United States Department of Justice. In 2002, Mr. Mosley was appointed Municipal Court Judge in Milwaukee. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest African-American to be appointed judge in the State of Wisconsin. In August 2004, Judge Mosley was appointed Chief Judge of the Milwaukee Municipal Court. Judge Mosley sits on the Board of Directors of several organizations including the Urban Ecology Center, the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee, Safe & Sound, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, the United Way Diversity Leadership Committee, and Transcenter for Youth. He has been a lecturer at both Marquette University Law School as well as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He sits on the Supreme Court of Wisconsin’s Judicial Education Committee. He received the Leaders in the Law Award from the Wisconsin Law Journal. He was inducted into the Milwaukee Community Journal’s Academy of Legends, named one of the Philanthropic 5 by the United Way, recipient of the Dean Howard B. Eisenberg Public Service Award from Marquette University Law School, voted “Jurist of the Year” by the Justinian Society of Lawyers, Professional of the Year by ONEMKE & The United Way, named Law Enforcement Official of the Year by Safe & Sound, received the William C. Frye Civic Engagement Award from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, was named “Milwaukeean of the Year” and “Milwaukee’s Most Trusted Public Official” by the Shepherd Express, and was inducted into the Milwaukee Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Hall of Fame in 2021. Judge Mosley routinely speaks both nationally and internationally about Unconscious Bias and the effect it has in all aspects of life. As a kidney transplant recipient in 2016, he is an ardent supporter of Donate Life Wisconsin, the National Kidney Foundation, and Versiti (formerly the BloodCenter of Wisconsin). He currently serves as an advisor to the television and movie industries to promote accurate depictions of organ donation and transplant on television and movies.