By Andrew L. Symons

If one were to create a blueprint for a distinguished and broad-ranging career on the judicial bench, it would be difficult to improve on the model developed by the Honorable Robert F. Utter, recipient of the William L. Dwyer Outstanding Jurist award. The irony is Justice Utter will quickly tell you that little if any part of his career was planned in advance. He made a conscious decision to run for the superior court bench in 1964, and other than that, he says, the rest came quite by chance.

While in his third year at the University of Washington and majoring in 17th Century English Literature and Political Science, Bob decided to enter the law school, which at that time did not require a four year degree as a prerequisite. He felt a career in law would provide an opportunity to be of service.

Following law school, he clerked in the Washington Supreme Court, worked as a deputy prosecutor in King County, and then joined Short & Cressman. In 1959 he became a Court Commissioner after receiving a telephone call from judges asking if he would be interested in taking over a position in the Juvenile Court.

Serving on the Juvenile Court was “a education in how lives are shaped” and an experience that helped shape the rest of his judicial career. Justice Utter says that as a judge he saw people getting into problems from things that were not planned and a lack of positive influences in life for many juveniles.

Bob Utter helped found the first Big Brothers chapter in Washington in 1958 and Big Brothers of Thurston County in 1982. He served those organizations for ten years, a part of the time as President. With a similar view, in 1964, he helped form Job Therapy, Inc., a program providing visitation to men and women in prison from successful lay persons. He served on its board for over fifteen years. He helped form the organization because he was frustrated over seeing so many people just go into prison, serve their term, and have nothing to build upon when released. He felt the need for an organization that would give persons a positive self-image, job opportunities, and a chance to take a productive part in society.

Many who know of Bob Utter today think of his broad international experience. In reality, until 1986 he had not left the United States other than by sailboat for short trips to Canada. At age 56, he started on his “great adventure” of international service. He likes to cite how this, too, was an unplanned course. A colleague, then chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, was leading a group to China and needed another group leader. The trip coincided with the Washington Supreme Court’s spring break, so Bob agreed to go. It opened the door.

From 1986 to the present (and counting), Justice Utter has participated in or led dozens of delegations and programs on international law and served as a consultant on constitutions in countries as varied and remote as China, the Soviet Union and Russia, Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Hungary, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Outer Mongolia, and the Netherlands (a partial list). He taught in the judicial academy in Moscow in 1991 just before the collapse of the USSR, which thereafter led to his work in many of the former Soviet republics.

Justice Utter participated in the ABA Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (“CEELI”) Institute in Prague in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and in September and December of 2004 and April of 2005. These recent session consisted of teaching groups of fifty Iraqi judges. He served as Dean of Faculty and Senior Instructor. The Iraqi course consisted of a two-week training session focusing on the subject, “Judging in a New Democratic Society.” He was awarded the ABA CEELI volunteer award in 2003 for his service.

In writing of this experience he recalled one day when the instructors gave a presentation on the subject of judicial ethics using international, European, and American codes of ethics as models. After this they “challenged the Iraqi judges to draft their own code. When asked what element they would add that was not in the other codes they replied, ÔCourage,’ noting that without courage all other ethical principles were of no value.”

Justice Utter could add to this the spirit of service and selflessness. A short article of this nature cannot adequately list, let alone describe, the breadth of his activities and experiences and those in our community whose lives he has touched. He identifies the meaning of the award not as a personal honor or professional achievement but as a reminder of someone he knew, tried to emulate, and admired as a friend.

Justice Utter recently gave a speech, in which he stated, “Judicial independence is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is the kernel of the rule of law, giving the citizenry confidence that the laws will be fairly and equally applied. Nowhere is this interest more keenly exposed than in the judicial protection of human rights.” n