About Julia
Julia Cassels built her path to law on a foundation in psychology and special education. She attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1995 before completing a Bachelor of Arts at Augustana College in 1996. She earned her J.D. from Drake University Law School in 1998. Those years shaped her approach to client work and courtroom practice, giving her an early grounding in how legal issues intersect with human needs.
Her first legal job was a federal clerkship. In 2001 she served as a law clerk for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. The clerkship preceded a move to Arizona, where she joined the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office in 2002. That public defense experience exposed her to heavy caseloads and courtroom procedure. It also deepened her familiarity with criminal law practice and trial preparation.
In 2005 she opened the Law Office of Julia Cassels, taking on ownership responsibilities and a wider set of client matters. Over the years she has maintained admission in Arizona and before the Ninth Circuit, allowing her to handle matters that span trial courts and federal appeals in the region. She balances litigation work with case management, drawing on time spent in both public and private practice.
Cassels’s professional associations reflect the mixed contours of her practice. She has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 2015 and has maintained membership in the National Association of Professional Women since the same year. Between 2017 and 2019 she served on the Board of Governors for Arizona Lawyers for Criminal Justice. Outside the courthouse she performs as a musician with the Greater San Diego Orchestra, a role she began in 2015.
Her legal background includes trial experience from public defense and federal clerkship experience that informs appellate work before the Ninth Circuit. That combination means she often moves between courtroom hearings and federal filings. She approaches each matter by weighing procedural strategy and client circumstances, and she draws on her undergraduate training in psychology when working with clients who face overlapping legal and personal challenges.
Cassels practices from the Law Office of Julia Cassels, PLLC in Arizona. She is admitted in Arizona and before the Ninth Circuit. She currently focuses on immigration and criminal defense matters.
