The goal remains the same each day Attorney Cierra Norris walks into a Chicago courthouse or her C. Norris Law Group office.
Even after building a TikTok base of over 300,000 followers and going viral for re-enacting GloRilla‘s “Yeah Glo!” single, her dream remains: to help solve the issue of mass incarceration and provide adequate justice resources for young Black men like her 16-year-old son, Arreic.
@attorneycierranorris say they get money, but i cant tell / WE ALSO DO PERSONAL INJURY – check out my IG, the last post are some receipts #YEAHGLO #CALLCIERRA #CarCrash #CriminalCase #Attorney #Chicago #PersonalInjury #HBIC
♬ Yeah Glo! – SkitzU & GloRiIla
Norris graduated from DePaul University College of Law with honors in 2015. In 2017, at the age of 27, she opened her law firm. At 33, Super Lawyers selected her as a rising star for 2023 and 2024. She’s been labeled a top-rated criminal defense attorney and handles personal injury cases.
Recently, Norris took time out of her busy schedule to speak to rolling out about her career and purpose.
Today, we have the honor of speaking to someone you might be familiar with if you have TikTok: the viral attorney Cierra Norris. Attorney Norris, how are you today?
Thank you for having me.
You’re too kind, but I always tell people I’m a lawyer first and TikTok[er] second. I was good before I went viral.
What is it like when you spend years crying, hours studying, reading, and writing to become an attorney, and then most people just recognize you for the fun stuff?
I’m glad you started with crying because there was a lot of crying involved.
People always tell you when you’re successful, people just see the success, and it looks like an overnight thing, but I’ve been working my whole life to this point. I wanted to be a lawyer for a long time. I also knew I needed a platform that was much larger than simply going in and out of criminal court.
I wanted to do it differently than anyone else had ever done it. I knew doing it like everybody else wasn’t going to work. My first TikTok was to Doja Cat, and it was a dance. It was so silly. People thought it was silly and it was just a joke. It was right in COVID; we were all bored. Then, I really started trying to do it.
People were like, “People want serious attorneys.” I said, “It turns out people just want attorneys that win.”
What is one thing going on in the justice system right now that Black people should know about?
In Illinois, be careful of no cash bails, especially in the working-class Black community.
Be careful when they sell you a dream of no cash bail. It’s happening here in Illinois, and class gun cases like armed individuals, class 2 gun cases, your second amendment right, discharge cases, those types of things that have anything of violence are being detained and our men are having to fight cases from the inside because no longer can you put collateral up to ensure you’ll come to court.
Before, for a high-class gun case, we could get $50,000 bond, 10% electronic monitoring like a cakewalk, but now, the only two options are released and detained, and all the major felonies. These type of guys with the backgrounds and the guys that have reformed their life, the guys who had these cases from 10 years ago are now catching a new case. They have a wife and kids, but they’re now fighting those cases from the inside, which is 10 times harder than fighting a case on the outside.
Be careful of no cash bail because what I’m seeing is the people who can post bail are being detained more often now. Other people are now clogging up the system, and what is replacing them are the leaders and heads of Black households for crimes systematically created to capture them.
