Legal Action of Wisconsin, RootedLaw, LLC
When Natasha Torry decided to pursue a legal career at the age of 19, she envisioned creating big, systemic change. She wanted to help poor people and create more equal access to justice.
After Torry graduated law school and as her career progressed, her goals didn’t change, but the way she pursued them did. Through her work in family law, Torry began to realize it’s not just big changes that can help people and that sometimes transformation can happen one individual at a time.
At her Sheboygan law firm RootedLaw, LLC, Torry offers family law, guardianship and estate planning services. The city didn’t have a lot of lawyers specializing in family law, so attorneys could command whatever price they wanted. Torry went into private practice with a desire to decide who she wanted to represent and how much she wanted to charge, including doing some pro bono work.
“I had known that from my experience in Sheboygan, people had a lot different outcome depending on whether or not they had an attorney. A lot of people just could not afford to have attorneys,” she says.
While Torry says family law chose her in a lot of ways — it was the position available when she started working in Green Bay for an organization then known as Legal Services of Northeastern Wisconsin — it turned out to be a good fit. Family law is a diverse area that requires practitioners to know about tax law, real estate, retirement funds, estate planning and guardianship.
“As the only Black female attorney in our county, Natasha has navigated a challenging landscape that systematically favors white male counterparts. She uses her voice to advocate, educate and advance change both professionally and in her volunteer work.”
— Christina Singh, Boys & Girls Clubs of Sheboygan County
Torry never had a litigation mindset and didn’t like the idea of fighting issues out in court. “I always thought that just did more damage to families,” she says.
In addition to her private practice, Torry serves as a part-time municipal judge for the City of Sheboygan and Village of Kohler as well as working as a staff attorney in the intake and brief services unit for Legal Action of Wisconsin Inc.
Through the latter, Torry does an intake shift every morning that involves receiving cold calls as well as carrying a caseload. It includes giving “on-the-fly” legal advice and guiding people to help themselves through their issues, such as collecting the needed documentation for applying for unemployment. As a municipal judge, Torry has seen that traffic tickets, for example, create a bigger burden for poor and minority people and she seeks to address that issue.
“It doesn’t really make a difference if you have an attorney there, but it makes a difference if you were prepared, that you submitted the (materials) ahead of time and that you knew how to answer questions when you were asked,” she says.
Through her work in all her roles, Torry says she hopes she can help people think about their circumstances differently and look at what they can do to improve their situation. She also aims to serve as an example to other women and minorities, recalling her own abusive upbringing and her experience as a first-generation college student.
“To go from that to now you have this elected official, it’s a big deal, and I think it’s something where people can feel proud of themselves if they see me,” she says.
