Judge William jorden

Division d

Criminal section 6 & civil section 32

William completed his undergraduate studies at Millsaps College where he was also a four year letterman in football. While at Millsaps, he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. Will received his law degree from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, LA in 2010.  After graduation, he became an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, LA where he became a felony trials assistant after only one month of trying misdemeanor cases. He continued his impressive rise by prosecuting almost forty jury trials ranging from homicides, armed robberies, and felony drug distribution cases in only three years. This yielded a quick rise to Senior Assistant in Section B of The Orleans Parish Criminal Court.

In 2014 he left New Orleans but remained in prosecution by joining the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s Office. He was the Section Chief of Section VII of the 19th JDC in the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s office. Will continued to serve his community in other ways by facilitating the “Real Talk Program”, a program designed to bring community stake holders along with law enforcement and attorneys together to discuss current issues in society with local high and middle school students, throughout local area schools. While the program started in Florida following the Trayvon Martin shooting, Will aided in the facilitation of the nationwide roll out of this program in 2015 at McKinley high school in Baton Rouge Louisiana, which is the oldest historically black public high school in the state opened in 1907. Additionally, Will was a cog in the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s office’s Junior DA program, in which middle school youth participated in a two week summer program that focused on exposing the youth to the criminal justice system from the inside by introducing them to different career professionals as well as employment fields. After the summer of 2016 following the death of Alton Sterling and the shooting death of three law enforcement officers, Will again answered to call of the community by playing an instrumental role in the subsequent conversations that would take place in an attempt to heal the community after the tragedies by creating the training program for the Community Police Ambassador program. The training was a true nuts and bolts break down of the criminal justice system from arrest and bail through, implicit bias, conviction and post-conviction.  

Jorden went on to become a founding member and Vice -President of the Louisiana Black Prosecutors Association. He was elected the 2015-2016 Southern Regional Director of this organization and was then awarded the National Black Prosecutors Association Regional Director of the Year award. This distinction was followed by his election as the President of the National Black Prosecutors Association (NBPA) which he held for the maximum allowable two consecutive terms. That position gave Will the distinction of being offered a board seat with the National District Attorneys Association.  One of his yearly duties was to attend the January day at the Hill in Washington D.C. in which the members of the committee would meet with legislators and policy makers regarding the law and suggested changes.

  The NBPA focuses on criminal justice reform as well as fostering the idea of black prosecutors and their presence within the execution of the criminal justice system. The ultimate goal of this organization is to change the narrative within black and brown communities and how they have been adversely affected by the criminal justice system. Under his leadership within the NBPA, the organization has expanded their work beyond prosecution and is now stepping into the corporate realm by starting the “Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in the Workplace” forum. The first annual forum took place in 2017 at the NBPA’s 34th Annual Conference and Job fair in Cleveland, OH.

Will serves in Section 1, Division D of the Louisiana 19th Judicial District Court. He assumed office on January 1, 2021. Since joining the court, Will has served as the Deputy Chief for Criminal (July 2022 - June 2024) and presently serves as the presiding Judge over the Recovery Court and as the Chair of the 19th JDC Building Commission.

Will and his lovely wife Brittany enjoy travelling across the country speaking about criminal justice reform and the best practices/common sense approach that is necessary to prevent crime and not just punish the offenders.

Court Forms

Plea Form

Financial Declaration Hearing Form

Short Form Case Management Civil Form

Recovery Court Preliminary Referral Form