Judge Mary Yu - Opening Doors and Passing on the Gifts of Mentorship
By Beth Barrett Bloom
The road to the bench does not always pass through roach-infested apartments. But it did for Judge Mary Yu.
A powerful voice for social equality long before she considered law school, this King County Superior Court judge continues to walk a path committed to justice. “Certainly, my life experience shapes how I see the world,” says Judge Yu. “Your head and heart can’t help but be shaped by where your feet have been.”
For Judge Yu, her humble childhood and years spent working on poverty issues in Chicago influence her to this day. So do the many inspirational leaders and mentors in her life who encouraged her and taught her what it takes to be successful.
In the 1980s, as director of the Office of Peace and Justice for the Archdiocese of Chicago, it was Mary Yu’s job to speak to people of faith who were struggling with the economics of racism, redlining and housing discrimination. She recalled the joys and the frustrations of visiting with parishioners in their homes.
“The greatest moments in Chicago were the times that I just sat and listened to the hope that many low-income people clung to; hope that someone would care enough to break the cycle of poverty and give them an opportunity to realize their full human potential.”
There were also parishioners who struggled with their fears and ignorance. For some, Judge Yu recalls, “there was simply no way they were going to let an African American buy their homes.” No amount of persuasion would work.
Judge Yu would later reflect that it was those hard moments that compelled her to pursue a second career in the law. “The Church’s mission is to try to persuade people to do good things,” she says, but “the law, frankly, compels people to do the right thing.” She left the Archdiocese in 1990 to enter law school at Notre Dame. It was only with a law degree that she could realize the kind of social change she envisioned.
Appointed to the bench just seven years out of law school, Judge Yu is now serving her second full term. She has distinguished herself on the bench for her hard work and exceptional commitment to justice. These qualities earned her recognition by the Washington chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates who named her “Judge of the Year” in November.
Judge Yu’s life today looks much different than her early days growing up in a working-class family on the South Side of Chicago. A daughter of immigrants (her father is Chinese and her mother is Mexican), her parents worked long hours to provide for her and her brother. Her father made steel cabinetry. Her mother constructed piecework from their home. Her parents also believed in education. They saved $5 each week so that she and her brother could attend Catholic schools.
Nonetheless, she hadn’t really considered college. It took a high school English teacher to notice her and push her to pursue higher education. Judge Yu remembers her fondly. “Joan Finnegan,” she says with a smile. “She was someone who really changed my life.” Today, Judge Yu holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theology, as well as her law degree. But without her first mentor, “I would not even have been a candidate to go to college. She was that pivotal.”
Her teacher saw great potential in Mary Yu, then 15, and made a point of drawing it out. Taking the time over dinners and after-school chat sessions, Finnegan became a guiding light. She helped a young Mary Yu overcome her own inner obstacles, including the notion that women were not meant for college.
Finnegan was the first of many mentors who invested in Judge Yu, opened doors for her and pointed her toward her calling. Judge Yu recalls fondly the transformative mentorship she received from now-Bishop Francis Kane while working for the Archdiocese. “He hired me as secretary, but I left 10 years later as a director,” she says. “He just kept throwing things on my plate and I would rise to the occasion.”
Judge Yu found another great mentor when she joined the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, first as an intern and then as an attorney after law school. “Norm Maleng was, again, just a fantastic mentor for me,” she says. “He was someone who would give me big projects and trust that I would find a way to succeed.”
These projects included reinvigorating student truancy laws and enforcement. Judge Yu helped re-draft and implement the compulsory school attendance part of the “Becca Bill,” which was a new enforcement system requiring schools to account for truant students and help get them back in school. At the time, Judge Yu was just two years out of law school.
The lesson of great mentorship is one Judge Yu has taken to heart. She speaks regularly on the importance of teaching and opening doors. As the keynote speaker at the crowded kickoff event for QLAW: the GLBT Bar Association of Washington, Judge Yu created a buzz when she challenged the established professionals in the room.
“You may be thinking that this bar association has nothing to offer you at this point in your career,” she said. “I ask you to consider what you have to offer. I challenge you to make some pledge to sustain this community in some way. Each of us cannot do everything; but each of us can do something.”
Not surprisingly, the law student internship opportunities Judge Yu provides in her courtroom are highly coveted. She gives her interns real opportunities to write and understand the litigation process. She reviews their work and provides detailed feedback. Judge Yu even asks college and high school students to join her in the courtroom as interns. Many leave energized to pursue a law school education. “Students are dying for someone to invest in them,” she observes. “They want to be taught and to be given a chance.”
More than 40 student interns have worked in Judge Yu’s chambers since she joined the bench in 2000. A large percentage of these interns have been students of color. She periodically takes her courtroom to Seattle University so that even more students can share in the experience. As the beneficiary of great mentoring herself, she is more than happy to give back.
Judge Yu lives in West Seattle with her partner and their two gigantic dogs, Zack and Joey. She is a loyal Notre Dame fan, following the college football team devotedly. She also enjoys golf and running. But her work schedule and community commitments don’t leave a lot of time for relaxation. Judge Yu serves on numerous volunteer boards and committees, teaches ongoing legal education and ethics and regularly attends community functions.
Maleng recently praised his former mentee. “When you look at her legal skills, she’s top-notch,” he said. “But the other thing you need to bring to bear is a real feeling of justice. She has a feel for people, a feel for the broader justice issues. . . . It’s that sense of justice that pulls it all together.”
Judge Yu’s commitment to justice stems from her religious upbringing and her diverse background. “I am proud of who I am and what my parents and religious training taught me about the value of the human person and my duty to protect and enhance that inherent dignity whenever I can,” she says. “So, I sincerely hope that being a person of color who happens to also be a member of the GLBT community makes me a good judge.
“I understand what it means to be ‘pre-judged’ or to have a decision made about me and my ability without any evidence other than surface level data. Thus, I work very hard to keep an open mind, to not pre-judge any case or person, to be empathetic, compassionate and respectful because if I am not, I know it can have a devastating impact upon an individual.”
Judge Yu is glad to live in a community that values diversity. She believes diversity in the judiciary is important for many reasons. “It matters to the litigants,” she says. “When they look into the jury box and see people like themselves, it enhances their belief in the judicial process; that the fact-finder might have something in common with them and, as a result, understand their perspective. The same is true for how they see judges.”
She says she loves her job, which combines her commitment to justice with her strong desire to teach and mentor. “I absolutely love the trial court,” she says. “Each case, whether criminal or civil, concerns individual lives or specific conflicts. I find great satisfaction in helping to bring resolution and sometimes healing to those individual lives.”
By sharing this experience with the many students who work in her chambers, she hopes to give back in some small way for the gifts of mentorship she received over the years. For Judge Yu, mentoring is about “teaching one another what it takes to be successful.” In no place is this principle more evident than in her courtroom. n
Beth Barrett Bloom, Judge Yu’s mentee through the WSBA Leadership Institute, is a labor and employment attorney with Frank, Freed, Subit & Thomas LLP in Seattle. She is also the co-founder and president-elect of QLAW: the GLBT Bar Association of Washington (www.Q-Law.org). She can be reached by email at bbloom@frankfreed.com.
