Photo by Amani Sodiq.
Vonda Bailey knew she wanted to be a lawyer at 2 years old.
Courtroom drama Perry Mason would appear on Bailey’s television each night before bed. The show followed the trials of a master criminal defense attorney handling the most difficult cases in support of the innocent.
“He was so brilliant, and you could tell he had a passion for the law,” Bailey says. “I just remember being like, man, I want to be like Perry Mason. I didn’t know what that entailed at the age of 2, but the older I got, I realized that I like advocating for others. I’m very outspoken, I would say how I feel, and I’m honest within saying what I feel.”
From that moment, Bailey knew she would someday be a lawyer. When she expressed her desire to her parents, they would have their own mock trials with one of them behind the couch acting as the judge and herself on the other side.
Bailey grew up in a law enforcement environment. Her dad worked at the sheriff’s department, her mom was a felony court clerk and she had cousins who worked as constables and in prisons. She describes her dad as being strict, but that didn’t stop her from being the rebellious one of her siblings.
“I stayed in trouble in school,” Bailey says. “Growing up in school, I didn’t like bullies, so I would be the person who bullied the bullies. I don’t like to see people mistreated, and that was from an early age. I wanted to advocate for those who couldn’t.”
Bailey grew up in Oak Cliff and graduated from David W. Carter High School. Being from the historic Dallas neighborhood encourages her to share her story and speak at events, because she knows others can be inspired.
“Being from Oak Cliff means a lot to me — it’s unique,” Bailey says. “For me, there is a sense of duty for the things that I want to do, what I want to accomplish, and what I want the younger generation to see. When they’re deciding whatever career choice they want, I want them to think, ‘I can do that, because this chick from Oak Cliff, she did it.’”
After high school, Bailey attended Dallas Community College where she obtained her associate’s degree. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Arlington before attending Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.
Following graduation from law school in 2014, Bailey established the law firm of Vonda Bailey and immediately made an impact in the Dallas area.
Bailey hosted an annual Client Appreciation Yacht Party where she collected donated items to give to those in need and children. She is a frequent speaker at local schools’ career day, and has provided pro bono services.
Her most popular endeavor is her YouTube show: Support Court with Judge Vonda B, a courtroom-based TV show involving cases with issues related to child support in Texas.
Inspiration struck on New Year’s Day in 2018 as Bailey was watching Paternity Court. Afterwards, a new show, Couples Court, came on. She grabbed the remote to check the TV guide and was met with a lineup of various court shows slated for the day.
“I noticed that there is clearly a niche for court shows, but why was nobody talking about the most controversial thing ever as it relates to law?” Bailey says. “With child support, some people love it, some people hate it, some people don’t believe in it, but I knew I had to do this.”
Going into it, Bailey knew there would be naysayers, but she wanted to educate people about child support issues.
“Education is not about popularity,” Bailey says. “Education is about getting the information out to people, whether they like it or not, whether they agree or disagree.”
The show gained traction, and her YouTube channel currently has 684,000 subscribers. Bailey also has a large audience across other social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
For some, Support Court is merely entertainment, as Bailey dramatizes scenarios and provides intriguing storylines. But for others, it has made a lasting impact on their life.
Recently while traveling back from a trip to Las Vegas with her husband, Bailey was approached by a woman in the airport who recognized her from Support Court.
“She gave me a big hug and said, ‘I just want you to know, I got custody of my grandson from watching your show,’” Bailey says. “That just made me feel good, because I’ve done something that is in perpetuity — it’s forever on the internet. So people can go look at it and say, ‘Oh, that’s what I need to do.’ I didn’t cover every aspect of child support, but almost anything people are looking for, they can find it.”
While clips from Support Court still go viral on social media here and there, the show is currently on a hiatus as Bailey was recently elected Judge of the 255th Family District Court in Dallas.
Bailey always knew she wanted to be a judge, but was waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.
“The previous judge that was sitting on the bench, I didn’t like the things that were going on,” Bailey says. “For me, when I see an issue, when I see people being mistreated, or if I see a process that can work a little better, I’m not going to sit here and complain like the rest of you. I’m going to get in the game.”
Bailey planned her campaign for about three years. When it was time to start campaigning, she was in her element.
“I knew I was going to win, and not in a cocky way,” Bailey says. “I just knew I was going to win because I knew what it takes. I knew what it took to get there. But I also knew that my work ethic is impeccable and nobody’s going to outwork me.”
In 2022, Bailey won the election by beating the incumbent judge by nearly 20,000 votes. In January 2023, she took the bench.
She’s “reopened” the 255th court by taking steps to assist litigants. In her first couple of months on the bench, Bailey established a monthly night court for those who could not get off work and established a monthly pro se court where those not represented by an attorney can have the help of a local attorney group.
Throughout her career in law, Bailey has never shied away from sharing her life on social media. Recently, she has decided to be more open than ever with her followers.
The judge who used to sit on the bench that Bailey now occupies filed a bar complaint against her in 2018, which tells the state bar that a certain lawyer does not deserve to have their law license.
“That was very hard, and it took years to really get over it,” Bailey says. “During that time, I was a newlywed, I was pregnant with my daughter, and I had a very rough pregnancy, just dealing with the stress of having to hire an attorney. It was a lot.”
Last February, Bailey was sitting in her chambers filming videos for her social media. She started to talk to herself about how she came out of that dark period in her life and knew she needed to share it.
“I didn’t think about how the most traumatic thing in your life, actually sharing it, could be a release,” Bailey says. “It wasn’t until that moment that I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”
In her profession, people often are not open about their feelings and emotions, Bailey says. It was important for her to show a side of her that the public often does not see.
“In the legal profession, we’re very good at being mystique and mysterious,” Bailey says. “I think people fail to see this humanistic side of us. Me opening up and sharing my life on social media allows me to be relatable and have different conversations, where I’m not confined to this judicial box of things I can and can’t do.”
The response to her story, which she shared on YouTube and TikTok, was overwhelmingly positive.
“So many people were like, ‘You encourage me to tell my story. You encourage me to not be afraid to just go after my dream,’” Bailey says. “People just feel inspired and really impressed that a judge is literally in tears telling you all about this traumatic time in her life.”
Between serving as a judge, maintaining her presence on social media, and being a mother and wife, Bailey recently expanded her portfolio to include film acting. She appeared in the 2023 film, Shadows of My Past, as herself. The drama, which is avilable to stream on Tubi, is described as a “heart-pounding tale of love, betrayal and redemption.”
“It was really exciting to see myself on the screen,” Bailey said. “I was overwhelmed with emotion because my 4-year-old is like, ‘Mommy’s on TV. She’s in a movie.’ This is just the start.”
Bailey’s current term as judge ends on December 31, 2026. And while Support Court will not make its return until she is off the bench, Bailey still has plenty of projects in the works.
“I have so many more things in store,” she says. “This is not the end of Judge Vonda Bailey.”