Jay Bodzin was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and moved to Oregon in  1998 to attend  Reed College. He graduated in 2002 with a B.A. in Political Science, and a Senior Reactor Operator's license for Reed's nuclear research reactor - the first political science major to ever hold this position. After graduation, he worked as a dispatcher for a small locally-owned delivery company. In 2004, he entered Northwestern Law School at Lewis & Clark with a Dean's Fellowship for Academic Excellence. He graduated in 2007, with honors awards for pro bono work and community service. In 2008, he opened the Northwest Law Office, a collaborative workspace for solo practitioner attorneys to develop their practices. After nine years in solo practice as a domestic relations litigator, he joined the firm of Kivel & Howard, LLP as a research associate. He has since joined McLain Legal Services in 2023.

Jay served as Secretary of the Oregon State Bar's Pro Bono Committee in 2010, and as its Chair in 2011. He later served as Chair of the Oregon State Bar's Unlawful Practice of Law Committee. He currently volunteers as a mentor to new attorneys through the Bar's New Lawyer Mentoring Program. He is a member of the Oregon State Bar, the Federal Bar for the District of Oregon, and the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. He has been a volunteer judge for the Classroom Law Project's Mock Trial Competition since 2014. He is an avid bicyclist and amateur archer, and enjoys reading, complex strategy games, and cooking, though he often forgets to eat.