Page 11 - 2026 January February Magazine

Interview with Incoming
Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association President
Nina Caldwell
BY ELIZABETH VINCENT
Our 2026 Tacoma-Pierce County
Bar President, Nina Caldwell,
is an enthusiastic subject who
made this interview easy. Our Bar is
the lucky recipient of her community-
minded spirit, both as a Pierce County
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and as a
Bar Trustee from 2023 through 2024
and incoming President in 2025. As she
discussed her background, a recurring
theme that emerged is her commitment
to the people with whom she shares this
community.
Nina is a proud Tacoma native who
attended Wilson High School, now
Dolores Silas High School, before
heading to Central Washington
University (CWU) on a basketball
scholarship. After two years playing ball,
she pivoted to campus activities and
became a founder and the first President
of “S.I.S.T.E.R.S.,” a group formed to
promote fellowship among women on
CWU’s campus and self-actualization
among its members.
She attended and was part of the last
graduating class of 2019 at the Whittier
College of Law in Costa Mesa, CA.
Her focus of study was International
and Comparative Law, which took her
to Nanjing University in China for
a summer before she recommenced
her studies at William and Mary Law
School in Virginia. She returned to
the Northwest to complete her legal
coursework at Seattle University School
of Law.
Nina comes by her interest in public
service naturally, as her mother has
forged a distinguished career in local
government. She is the Director of
Community Health Services for Public
Health Seattle/King County. Her prior
posts include Director of Equity and
Social Justice for the King County
Council and Director of the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Chief of Equity,
Diversity and Inclusion at the state level.
Nina has two older sisters, one who is the
Principal of Fern Hill Elementary School
in Tacoma, and the other a Managing
Supervisor at GMMB (a communications
firm in Seattle).
Nina recalls that her career choice as a
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney came, in
part, through her mother’s connection
to an esteemed member of our legal
community, Diane Clarkson, retired
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and the
first African-American President of the
Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association
in 2016. Diane gave Nina a tour of the
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the
local courtrooms and encouraged Nina
to see the benefits of this work. Nina
also shared that during that experience
she liked the energy of the Prosecuting
Attorney’s office.
In 2019, Nina interned as a Rule 9 in the
Misdemeanor Division and then, in 2020,
started as a DPA in the Traffic Division
and handled DUI negotiations during
COVID, before moving to the Domestic
Violence Unit. Next she worked for most
of a year at Juvenile Court. Following
that, she took on a felony caseload in the
DV Unit and then the General Crimes
Trial Unit. She has since returned to
prosecuting felony DV cases.
Nina shares, “Collaboration is my
mindset.” She expressed gratitude
for those who have helped shape
her professional goals along the way,
including her prior DV Supervisor,
Coreen Schnepf, Juvenile Court
Supervisor Heather DeMaine, General
Crimes Trial Unit Supervisor Kara
Sanchez, Diane Clarkson, current
Minority Bar Liaison Desiree Hosannah,
as well as Past President Sarah
Richardson, who encouraged her to run
for a TPCBA Board position.
One big insight she has gained from
her involvement in the TPCBA is that
her view of the legal community has
expanded beyond the Prosecuting
Attorney’s Office. Nina said that she’s
still relatively new and learning from
other lawyers and will continue to do so
as Bar President. She explained that she
has gotten so much more mentorship as
an active member of the local Bar and
invites other members to take advantage
of those opportunities to enhance their
career and their community engagement.
Thank you for sharing your story,
incoming President Caldwell. We look
forward to your stewardship in the
coming year.
Elizabeth Vincent is a Deputy
Prosecuting Attorney in the
Misdemeanor Division's Domestic
Violence Unit, Pierce County
Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
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