I grew up on a farm in rural Lake County. After graduating from Madison High School, I went to South Dakota State University, where I graduated in 1976 with majors in political science and sociology and a minor in history. I journeyed down I-29 to attend law school at the University of South Dakota, graduating in December 1978. I have been married for 35 years to my wife, Sarah.

After three years with Dakota Plains Legal Services in Sisseton, first as a VISTA volunteer and then a staff attorney, I moved to Sioux Falls when the Public Defender’s Office opened in 1982. After nearly 30 years as a public defender, 22 of which I served as the head of the office, I went into private practice in December 2011 as Jeff Larson Law. It has been a privilege to hand over the reins of the office to Melissa and Angel in 2017.

Professional and community activities include: past president of the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association (receiving then Trial Lawyer of the Year Award in 1996); former adjunct professor of Advanced Criminal Procedure at the USD Law School; member of the South Dakota Criminal Code Revision Committee and South Dakota Equal Justice Commission; former member of the board of Family Connection and Family Service, Inc.; recipient, along with longtime paralegal Kara Duncan, of the South Dakota Outstanding Criminal Defense Lawyer in 2013.

I am proud to have devoted my career to defending people accused of criminal (or juvenile) offenses, and I look forward to having the law firm continue with that as one of its missions.