Criminal Law Attorney (Prosecutor)

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor

Vancouver, Washington

Hometown: Vancouver, Washington

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

​

My name is Camara Banfield. I am the Chief Criminal Deputy at the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. I’ve been an attorney for 18 years. I currently live in Vancouver, Washington and have lived here for most of my life. Outside of being a lawyer, I am a mother of 3 kids – ages 22, 12, and 10. I had my first child before going to law school and my other 2 children after becoming a lawyer. 

Why did you become an attorney?

​

I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer even if I didn’t necessarily always know what that meant or what it actually entailed. When I was a kid, people would say that I made good arguments and that I was obstinate and so I should be a lawyer. It started out as a joke but it became something that stuck in the back of my head. 

What is the most impactful thing you’ve been able to do with your law degree?

​

This is a question I would answer differently at different phases in my career. In my current role, I think what’s been most impactful is being able to show people from diverse backgrounds that you can reach the top in one of the most difficult fields. I just returned from a sabbatical and within my first 3 weeks back, I had 3 young women job shadow me. It’s important for young people to see they can do this work. It is gratifying to be able to use my position to show that. Aside from this mentorship, over the course of my career, the most impactful thing is how profoundly this job reaches people’s lives. I try to be mindful of this reality and to do the best I can for my community.

Has your identity helped make you a better lawyer? If so, in what way?

​

I think it has helped but it’s also hurt. As a woman of color I’ve had to find ways for people to accept me as a lawyer and a leader. 

As a woman of color trial lawyer, I realized early on that just my presence was going to have an immediate impact. I had to temper myself to not be seen as aggressive or threatening. No one thought I was as smart as I was. People would tell me I was articulate, which is something they would never say to a white person. I really wanted to be successful and so I used people’s biases against them. In a system where the prosecutor caries so much weight sometimes being a black prosecutor gave me more credibility. 

There are different challenges in a leadership position. For the most part, I have proven myself within the office and the legal community. Now that I am in a leadership position, I no longer care so deeply about what people think about me. I’m now in a position to have the freedom to make people listen to me and my perspective. In this way, being a leader has allowed me to be more myself. Even if I am afraid, I am not going to allow that fear to stop me from speaking out even if it would have before. There’s an obligation to use this platform in a positive way.

Thinking about the future generations of diverse attorneys, what piece of advice do you have?

​

I would tell people to reflect on why they want to go to law school. It’s important to consider your goals and make sure you are choosing the best option for you to achieve those goals. That may or may not turn out to be law school. It’s important to really have this pinned down because when times are tough you are going to need to have the reasons you keep fighting. You also need to be resilient. 

If you decide law school is right for you, your story needs to be part of your application. Your story is your biggest strength and you need to carry it around like a crown, not like a burden. You start telling your story in your law school application, you tell it during law school, and you continue to tell it in job interviews.

Why should we be concerned with the diversity of your profession?

​

Particularly as a prosecutor, we need a lot more people of color and other minorities. We need these perspectives. It is so important not to leave this a blank, white space because then decisions are made by people who don’t have a fully realized concept of what the community is going through. 

Interestingly, I fell into being a prosecutor. I took a Rule 9 job as a prosecutor with the City of Vancouver at the end of law school to support myself while finishing my final paper on tax law. I ended up falling in love with trial work. Once I was doing this work, I saw what a difference I was able to make. You make more of a difference than any defense attorney. You have discretion on whether to charge the case from the moment it hits your desk – the prosecutor checks the work of law enforcement, protects the defendant’s constitutional rights, and makes sure that victims of crimes are treated fairly. As a prosecutor you can actually create the change people say they want in this field.

Minorities have a distrust of the legal system, and they should, because over the years they haven’t been treated the same as the majority. When you are a prosecutor you get to make sure everyone is treated fairly. You get to take that time and make that effort. If you are not here, who is going to do it?

"If you are not here, who is going to do it?"