Openings for Appointment or Election
The following are all current openings known to KCBA for judicial positions subject to election by King County voters or appointment in our region. Most will be subject first to appointment by the Governor, County Council, or local city council. The bar recommends that attorneys interested in a judicial career obtain evaluation ratings from KCBA well in advance of the appearance of a vacancy on this page. Generally speaking, appointing authorities publish notice of a vacancy to solicit interest from attorneys with existing ratings. The bar's process, which relies on the availability of volunteer attorneys to conduct evaluations, can take up to 3 months from the date an applicant submits an application for rating. It is very unlikely that a rating can be issued on short notice.
To learn more about our process, select the "Judicial Candidate Evaluation Rating Process" link from the menu bar on the right side of this page.
Current & Upcoming Openings as of 09/15/21:
Before requesting an evaluation from KCBA, please read the information regarding evaluations on our Judicial Candidate Evaluation Page, including the information under the Judicial Candidate Evaluation Process link.
September 15, 2021
Notice of Judicial Vacancy
King County Superior Court
On September 13, 2021, Hon. Dean S. Lum announced his resignation from the bench effective January 18, 2022. Governor Jay Inslee is now seeking interested and qualified members of the Washington State Bar Association to submit applications to fill Judge Lum’s position in the King County Superior Court. The Governor’s application for judicial appointment, the Uniform Judicial Evaluation Questionnaire, is accepted by the King County Bar Association and several minority bar associations for evaluation purposes. It can be downloaded at: http://www.governor.wa.gov/office-governor/official-actions/judicial-appointments-0
To be considered for this vacancy, applicants are strongly encouraged to promptly submit complete applications, along with a short resume and the Waiver and Authorization to Release Information, and schedule judicial evaluations with the judicial district bar association and the statewide minority bar associations. All applications must be completed and submitted to the Governor’s Office by October 15, 2021, with all judicial evaluation ratings submitted to the Governor’s Office of General Counsel as soon as possible. All candidates who have applied for appointment to King County Superior Court this year, will be automatically considered for this appointment.
Completed applications should be emailed or mailed to the addresses below:
Kathryn Leathers, General Counsel
Office of the Governor
Legislative Building
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
Email: Judicial@gov.wa.gov