“The possibilities are endless.” Some 16 years ago, that was the prediction by former King County Superior Court Judge Leroy McCullough in these pages regarding then-federal prosecutor Richard Jones. Now-U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones’ recent ascension to the federal bench has turned prediction into prescience.
Judge Jones, who had served on the King County Superior Court bench since 1994 after six years as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, returned to his federal roots and assumed the U.S. District Court bench on October 30.
President Bush nominated Judge Jones on March 19, 2007, to fill the seat left vacant when Judge John C. Coughenour went on senior status in July 2006. After that, as is often the case, the wheels of justice turned slowly. He had his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 17 and was favorably reported out of committee on September 6. The Senate confirmed his appointment by voice vote on October 4.
But it wasn’t the wait that was difficult — the scrutiny and the homework were the hard part, Judge Jones said. The FBI conducted an “exhaustive” background check that included interviewing his neighbors and tracking down his counselor from the inner-city youth program where he worked as a counselor during his first year in college. On top of that was the massive Senate Judiciary Committee form. “I was just about done,” Judge Jones recalled, when — in the wake of the 2006 elections — the composition of the committee and, thus, the questionnaire changed.
“There’s always tension,” Judge Jones said of the confirmation process. “Then it’s just the uncertainty of when the event will take place where they confirm your nomination. Your life stays in limbo.” When asked if he was relieved when the Senate finally acted, he said, “You have no idea!” Richard Jones’ route to the federal bench was, if not predestined, at least inspirational. His family moved to Seattle from Chicago, where his father had been excluded from the carpenters’ union because of the city’s Jim Crow laws. He grew up in Seattle’s Central District in a house so small, Judge Jones has joked, that he and his seven siblings had to synchronize their breathing at night.
After attending St. Martin’s High School in Lacey on a scholarship, Judge Jones returned to Seattle and earned his undergraduate degree in public affairs in 1972 from Seattle University, where he later served on the Board of Regents and which named him its Alumnus of the Year in 2004. He graduated from the University of Washington School of Law in 1975.
He quickly learned, however, that — to put it mildly — social progress was not universal, even in egalitarian Seattle. After a promising preliminary interview with a Seattle firm for an associate position, the young graduate was told by one of the firm’s recruiters that the senior partners were not ready to hire any blacks.
Angry, frustrated and soured to the notion of private practice, Judge Jones went to work for the King County Prosecutor’s Office instead and turned the negative energy into a positive force. After three years, he went to work for the Port of Seattle and from there to Bogle & Gates in 1983. Five years later, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the narcotics division.
From there, he was tapped for the Superior Court bench in 1994. After 13 years, Judge Jones said that, while “it was sad to leave my colleagues” at Superior Court, his appointment to the federal bench has been like a “welcoming home.” He has spent his first few months “getting reacquainted with the system,” as well as with a number of “familiar faces,” and “getting up to speed.”
The main difference from the Superior Court bench and the main benefit of the federal bench, Judge Jones said, is “law clerks, law clerks, law clerks.” He chose experienced clerks to help him hit the ground running. Being able to delegate research to his law clerks, he said, allows him to be better prepared to consider the complexities of the types of cases he already has seen at the federal level.
Superior Court operates “at a much faster pace,” he said, but the size of some federal cases also “puts a different pressure on you.” Still, he looks forward to handling cases with potential nationwide impact and precedential value.
Judge Jones’ passion is helping low-income youth explore and pursue their dreams. In a presentation he delivers to youth across the state, “Helping Young People Explore Their Dreams,” he shares his experiences as a youth and the path he took to become a lawyer and judge, helping young people believe that with motivation, anything is possible.
He hopes that someday programs such as the Northwest Minority Job Fair and the Minority Clerkship Program, with which he has been intimately involved, will not be necessary. However, although the “sheer numbers” show that more and more minorities are entering the legal field, “breaking the barrier and moving into senior partnerships and upper corporate levels” has been more difficult. “But strides are being taken,” he says.
Judge Jones has drawn his own inspiration from the “enormous challenges of other attorneys who were able to rise above it all and make a profound difference in their community.” His own community service and honors are too numerous to mention here. But they include the Loren Miller Bar Association Professional Achievement Award in 2001, the Richard Allen Brotherhood Community Service Award from First A.M.E. Church and years of service as a faculty member with the National Judicial College and the Washington State Judicial College, where he served as dean in 1997 and 1998. Judge Jones has been a board member for the YMCA of Greater Seattle for 15 years, served as its president from 2000–2002 and recently received the organization’s 24th Annual A.K. Guy Award in recognition of his years of outstanding community service.
His advice to those seeking to follow his example is simple: “Believe in yourself. Don’t be afraid of a challenge and to pursue opportunities that appear to be unachievable. Engage in the practice with an eye toward excellence and have fun. Whatever you do, have a component of your practice in which you are giving to public service or the community, because that’s a component of any successful law practice.”
Given the breadth of Judge Jones’ career and his dedication to causes that focus on youth, public education and increasing opportunities for minorities in the legal profession, it is perhaps unfortunate — though certainly deserving — that he is best known, not as musician Quincy Jones’ half-brother, but for a single case: that of the “Green River Killer,” Gary Ridgway. For his work, the KCBA and the Washington State Bar Association each honored him as their 2004 “Judge of the Year,” as did the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association and the Asian Bar Association of Washington State.
But Richard Jones’ singular dedication is reflected in the attention he gives to any case. “The test of one’s performance is the way they handle the smaller cases,” King County Superior Court Judge William Downing told The Seattle Times when his colleague was nominated to the federal bench. “Richard displays precisely that same degree of sensitivity to all that appear before him.”
Judge Michael Trickey, who was serving as King County presiding judge when Judge Jones was nominated, is — despite his white hair — actually the junior judge between the two. “I had the privilege of appearing before him on an extremely difficult case involving a juvenile tried as an adult for a serious homicide,” Judge Trickey recalled. “I knew then that he had found his calling. He was fair and just, without diminishing the seriousness of the crime.”
Judge Harry McCarthy fondly remembers his days with Judge Jones as, first, enthusiastic law clerks from the U.W. Law School and, later, as colleagues in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where Judge McCarthy had seniority. Judge McCarthy also followed Judge Jones to the bench. “As I pursued the judicial position, my friend was very encouraging and supportive,” he said. “After my appointment, he served as one of my mentor judges. What goes around truly does indeed often come around.”
Judge McCarthy said he is “delighted to see my good friend take his place” on the federal bench. “Judge Jones has for several years demonstrated the very best qualities in a judge. He will continue his dedicated service now from the federal bench.”
Retired Washington Supreme Court Justice Charles Z. Smith also has been a constant presence in Judge Jones’ life since his years at the U.W. Law School, where Justice Smith was then a professor and associate dean and where the young student found an enduring friend in Justice Smith.
“I have followed his career and have been a mentor — to use an overused word — and counselor to him during his legal career,” said Justice Smith, who gave the remarks at a Law School reception for Judge Jones in November after his Senate confirmation. “So, I have people like Richard A. Jones who are my former students and I claim credit for their great success.”
Justice Smith kids, of course, but not about Judge Jones’ success. Like others, he has high praise for Judge Jones’ more and less visible accomplishments: the Ridgway case and his good works. The former, Justice Smith says, “brought to attention everything we want to see in a judge: intelligence, compassion, a sense of fairness and an ability to help the families of the victims, as well as have a decent response to Mr. Ridgway himself.”
As for the latter, Justice Smith points out that Judge Jones has done “many other things than handle that case.” He singled out Judge Jones’ dedication to youth and minority law programs, as well as his dedication to his family. “He deserves all the awards and accolades he gets because he is the kind of person who merits all the attention he receives,” Justice Smith said. “He does not strive for the recognition, but to render a service and be fair and impartial.”
Judge Jones’ seat on the federal bench is barely warm; it is too early to prognosticate anew about his future. So, Justice Smith demurred, for the most part. “Knowing the federal system as I know it, there is no such thing as ‘moving up,’” he said.
But, he continued, “I predict that he will be an outstanding District Court judge, and who knows what the future holds for him in the federal judicial system.”
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