About Bailey Fowler
Bailey Fowler Means built a legal foundation on two undergraduate degrees before she ever set foot in a courtroom. She earned B.A. degrees in Criminology, Law & Society and in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine. She then went on to earn her J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Her early career placed her inside public defense from the start. In 2014 she joined the Ventura County Public Defender’s Office as a deputy public defender. That role put her in front of judges and juries, handling arraignments, motions and trials. The work demanded quick thinking and the ability to weigh legal strategy against immediate case realities. It also exposed her to the practical pressures that defendants and their families face.
Three years later she moved to the regulatory side of the law. In 2017 she served as a deputy trial counsel at the State Bar of California. There she handled investigative and trial work related to attorney discipline and professional responsibility. The position required a different set of skills: parsing ethical rules, managing complex files and presenting evidence in administrative hearings. Those cases often involved detailed procedural questions and careful factual development.
Those two strands — criminal defense and regulatory prosecution — shape how she approaches cases. She knows what it is like to defend a client charged with a crime and she understands how a disciplinary matter unfolds from the prosecuting side. That combination gives her a practical perspective on risk, remediation and courtroom advocacy. Outside the office she participates in professional gatherings and is a current member of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.
She practices at Means & Means LLP in California. Her work draws on courtroom experience and regulatory knowledge to address both criminal matters and issues of professional responsibility. She maintains an active practice at Means & Means LLP focused on criminal defense and professional responsibility matters.
