Profile/Judge Karen A. Overstreet
Bankruptcy Judge Marches to a Different Drum
By Joan Middleton
In 1994, only one month after becoming the first woman appointed to the federal bankruptcy bench in the state of Washington, Judge Karen A. Overstreet achieved another milestone: She gave birth to her first child. Now, almost 12 years later, Judge Overstreet continues to mark firsts. Earlier this year, she earned the distinction as the first woman to be appointed chief bankruptcy judge in the Western District of Washington, assuming her post effective June 16.
How does she deal with such pioneering achievements? With the same pragmatic outlook with which she has approached every turn in her life.
Judge Overstreet, who now has two sons, fondly remembers that when she was appointed to the bench she, her secretary and her law clerk - also women - had "never done anything like this. Then, I had a baby a month after I took this job." When she asked about maternity leave, no one knew the answer because no one in her position had ever asked.
As it turns out, she was well prepared to improvise. Judge Overstreet often takes a seat of a different kind as a part-time rock Ôn' roll drummer, having performed with a number of bands over the years. Most recently, she appeared with Karen and the Deadbeats at the Bankruptcy Bandstand, a fundraiser for the non-profit CENTS Program (Consumer Education and Training), which helps fund the King County Debt Clinic, law school clinics and free consumer financial education courses.
Judge Overstreet started playing the drums in high school, renting her equipment and paying for her own lessons. She remembers playing with her band at the old Skyway Tavern on Lake City Way and at the Lake Forest Park Inn. The lead singer was a truck driver and they played the standard stuff, including "Louie Louie" and songs by the Stones, the Beatles and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
When in law school, she played with a band at the Vets Club in Eugene where they purportedly sold more alcohol on the nights when her band performed than on other nights. She says she doesn't play as much anymore because "hauling around the equipment is hard." But she still keeps the beat at home. Her lawyer-husband plays guitar and her two sons play trumpet, piano and drums, so they can all play together in a family band at home. Judge Overstreet also makes time to be a soccer, baseball and basketball mom, while her husband coaches soccer and baseball teams for their sons.
Judge Overstreet has come full circle in her legal career. When she steps back behind the bench, she serves as the chief bankruptcy judge in the same district where she once worked as a file clerk prior to attending law school. When she was first appointed to the bench in 1994, she took over for Judge Sidney C. Volinn, who had hired her for the clerk's position 17 years earlier.
A Seattle native, Judge Overstreet was born at Swedish Hospital and reared in Seattle. She first knew she wanted to become a lawyer after hearing a public defender describe his job to her eighth-grade class. She attended the University of Washington and received her B.A. in economics, cum laude, in 1977. But the UW School of Law unaccountably denied her application, no doubt a decision deeply regretted by the admissions office today. Because she could not afford to attend the more expensive University of Puget Sound School of Law, she went looking for work.
At the UW Job Placement Center, she saw an ad for a file clerk position, applied and was hired by Judge Volinn. She worked as a file clerk, docket clerk and courtroom deputy in the clerk's office for two years, saving up money to attend law school. When Judge Overstreet was financially ready for law school, she went south (a bit) and received her J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1982, earning Order of the Coif honors. She also was associate editor of the Oregon Law Review and the director of the People's Law School. She was appointed to the bankruptcy bench following an accomplished legal career in Seattle and Philadelphia.
Judge Overstreet comments that the transition from file clerk to judge was special for her. She knows first-hand how far the court has come since her days in the clerk's office. The new electronic filing system used by the bankruptcy court today is quite a change from the "old days" when she single-handedly did the filing for the entire court and looked up case-filing information on 3x5 index cards that were alphabetized and kept in a single file drawer. She believes this has given her more of an understanding and appreciation for what people in the clerk's office do.
Given the recent revamping of the bankruptcy court's computer system to comply with the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, she is quick to praise the clerk's staff. "I would pit our public employees against those of any private employer," she says. In the six weeks before the new Bankruptcy Code went into effect, more than 15,000 bankruptcy petitions were filed. Of those, 11,000 were filed between October 1 and October 16, the day before the new act went into effect. Total filings for 2004 were just under 30,000 by comparison.
Judge Overstreet is proud of the bankruptcy court staff. She calls their creativity and effort in handling this unprecedented increase in filings and in meeting the court's increased responsibilities under the new statute "Herculean." At one point, to handle the crowd in the clerk's office, an employee cut out paper numbers to hand out to people waiting in long lines so they could sit down while waiting their turns.
Judge Overstreet's other passion is reflected in her deep commitment to consumer education and teaching consumers how to make better decisions such as avoiding minimum payments on credit cards. This is why she drums up support for CENTS (formerly known as the Debtor-Creditor Resource Project) in which she has been active since its formation in 1995. She generously praises the lawyers, accountants, clerk's office staff and others who donate pro bono hours to support CENTS and other access-to-justice programs. She thinks the lawyers are the real heroes when, as solo practitioners, they donate time that will never help their bottom line, or, as members of law firms, they must answer to managing partners about billable hours.
She would like to see more emphasis on financial management in schools, particularly with young students. She tells a story about how her own young sons were given "credit cards" at a Mariners' Fanfest event and told to take the cards to a machine to get prizes. She took the cards from her sons because she didn't want them to get the message that a thin piece of plastic can get you what you want. She says that kids become conditioned at an early age to use credit cards without understanding that plastic is not the same thing as real money.
When discussing the new bankruptcy act, Judge Overstreet speaks of social policy issues that directly affect consumer counseling. She would like to see Congress attack the root problems of bankruptcy directly, such as jobs, health insurance and affordable housing. She points out that one uninsured medical loss for a family earning $40,000 a year can be catastrophic.
With the new act, debt will be more difficult to discharge but the root problems will not change. She is particularly concerned about the new attorney liability provisions, which she believes will result in more unrepresented clients. She points out that one law school bankruptcy clinic is being suspended and there is concern that larger firms may be reluctant to continue providing pro bono services to consumer debtors in the CENTS program. Some firms may leave the consumer bankruptcy business altogether.
Despite her extraordinary personal story, Judge Overstreet says that her life journey was not remarkable. "You just go where your life takes you and the rest is history." Typically humble and pragmatic, she credits her parents with instilling in her a strong work ethic and sees herself as an ordinary person who got where she is today by working hard and not because of an intellectual background.
Today, her two law clerks job-share and they each have three children. She jokes that "sometimes we had baby spit-up on our jackets when we came to work but that's life." Beyond the judge's staff, her strong connection to working women is reflected in one of her most valued achievements: She was named Judge of the Year by the King County Chapter of Washington Women Lawyers in 1999.
Judge Overstreet also quips about how the FBI - which also investigated whether the lyrics to "Louie Louie" were salacious - checked her out before her appointment. The special agent, after reviewing her application, asked her during her interview, "That's it?" She responded, "Yes, that's it. I went to school, I got good grades, I became a judge."
As for the long-anticipated revival tour with the Deadbeats, let's hope that Judge Overstreet gets to play "Louie Louie" again soon. Maybe she should invite the FBI agent - and enunciate.
Joan Leah Middleton is a lawyer, guardian ad litem and certified parenting evaluator. She works with children, vulnerable adults and seniors and is on various registries for court appointments in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. Middleton can be reached at 425-557-5910 or by e-mail: kindlawyer@hotmail.com.
