Meet our Hosts: Eugene Toussaint

Eugene did not always know he wanted to be a public defender and initially gravitated towards becoming a prosecutor while in law school. A victim of an attempted robbery, and numerous assault during his time growing up in The Bronx, he thought becoming a prosecutor would be the best way to give back to his community. However, a yearlong Criminal Defense externship during his third year at St. John’s University School of Law changed his opinion on how he could best give back to his neighborhood.

The externship gave him an opportunity to meet people accused of crimes and help them navigate the criminal justice system. He realized that many, if not most, of the people he encountered during the externship were just like himself and the people he grew up with. They were raised in the same neighborhood, had the same cultural experiences and had similar childhood stories. This experience made him realize that he could have a higher impact and better serve the people in his community by becoming a public defender. At the same time, he would not have to change who he is and could use his experiences as someone born and raised in the Bronx as an asset to relate to his client and help them traverse the scary and unknown experience of being accused of a crime.

Eugene loves being a public defender. He has been practicing Criminal Defense as a public defender since he graduated in 2014. He has not regretted his decision to become a public defender in the slightest. He enjoys his work and enjoys being himself while treating his clients with the same respect and patience he brought into his practice since the beginning. Because of the similarities both Eugene and his clients experienced while growing up in a lower income community, he is able to bring a truly unique and candid experience to relate and connect with his clients.

It is this connection, which is built upon empathy for his community, that lead him to co-create the show Attorneys With Swag - a show he hopes will reach and teach more people than he ever could by just being an average 9am - 5pm attorney. Eugene hopes that this groundbreaking show will shed the brightest light on not only the career of an attorney like himself but also inspire some of the most hopeless and voiceless individuals in lower income communities to become their best possible self by knowing their rights and avoiding the pitfalls of the criminal justice system.