Many people have said that Judge H. Joseph Coleman is “a judge’s judge.” And while it is true that his devotion to the rule of law and belief in the importance of an independent judiciary are hallmarks of his career, that is only one facet of the 2008 recipient of the William L. Dwyer Outstanding Jurist Award.
Joe also has great insight into and compassion for people, the courage to handle difficult cases and situations honestly and, to quote his friend Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas, “great wisdom and a vibrant love of life.”
Judge Coleman is a native of Washington. Raised in Bickelton, he got both his undergraduate degree and his law degree at the University of Washington. After clerking for Supreme Court Justice Matthew Hill, he worked in private and public practice before becoming legal advisor to the Seattle Police Department.
In 1976, he was elected to the King County Superior Court where he was highly respected. While there, he was chief criminal judge, elected to the Executive Committee and the Board of the Superior Court Judges’ Association, and was appointed by Governor Spellman to the initial Sentencing Guidelines Commission.
Perhaps his most difficult task as a trial judge was presiding over Chemical Bank v. Washington Public Power Supply System in which nearly 100 parties and their attorneys participated. It involved the largest default on municipal bonds in history. Richard Yarmuth, one of the attorneys in the case, described it as “hotly contested and aggressively defended.” He and David Jurca, another attorney in the trial, both said Judge Coleman “did a magnificent job.”
Their comments about how Judge Coleman handled the WPPSS case apply to his approach to cases he decided throughout his career. “He has great intellectual capacity and presided over the contentious and difficult case with great equanimity,” Yarmuth said. Judge Coleman, Jurca said, “unfailingly treated everyone with courtesy and firmness in this high-stakes litigation and did a superb job of ruling on complex issues.”
In 1984, Judge Coleman was appointed to Division I of the Court of Appeals. He served as presiding chief judge, chief judge, vice chair of the Board for Judicial Administration and chair of the Gender and Justice Task Force, and was a long-time member of the Judicial Conduct Commission. In 2002, King County Washington Women Lawyers named him “Judge of the Year.”
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik said, “I will always remember him as a superb trial judge. But he also left his mark on the justice system by his extraordinary contributions as chair of the Gender and Justice Task Force and one of the first judicial members of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission. His honesty, integrity and intellect gave great credibility to the pioneering work done by those important organizations.”
As an appellate judge, Joe continued to epitomize the best in judging, never losing sight of the challenges and role of the trial judge. Former Superior Court Judge Larry Jordan and Jim Verellen worked closely with Judge Coleman for many years as commissioners on Division I. Judge Jordan describes him as “consistently demonstrating strength of character, fairness and problem-solving. He decides cases based firmly on the rule of law and its application to the facts of the case, always keeping in mind future ramifications of the legal principles.”
“Judge Coleman sets the sterling standard for judges,” Commissioner Verellen said. “He approaches each case with great intellectual honesty, swiftly arriving at the core issues. His opinions are clear, logical, and reflect a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the law. Perhaps most compelling is his keen sense of the impact of the law on real people in the real world.”
It is this sense that drives the intense commitment to honesty, integrity and independence that characterizes his decisions and his life.
Joe’s many friends love him for his wonderful dry sense of humor, encyclopedic knowledge of food and wine, and great fondness for travel, movies and especially books, which he reads three at a time. These qualities, along with his insight, compassion and caring for people, make him the best kind of friend.
While his more than 1,400 opinions will have a lasting effect on the law of our state, perhaps his most enduring accomplishment is in the values he implanted on the court and which teach others. Joe is a mentor to countless judges and lawyers. One cannot talk to him without being infected with what former Justice Rosselle Pekelis, who served with him on the trial and appellate courts, described as his “fair-mindedness, passion for the law, and never-ending enthusiasm.”
She summarized what many think. “Joe never lost his freshness and excitement about the law. He was my mentor on both courts. I will value him forever as a friend and a colleague.” And as Judge Lasnik said, “When judges get together and talk about who they admire, Joe Coleman’s name always comes up. He is a role model for many trial and appellate judges throughout the state.” Judge Bill Dwyer would no doubt agree. n Judge Susan R. Agid and Judge Ann Schindler serve with Judge Coleman on Division One of the Washington Court of Appeals.
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