Page 24 - 2024 March April Magazine

The purpose of this article is to make public what many of you know or suspect - that the four of us are not running for re-election in 2024. It is also written with
two other goals in mind: to thank those who were so helpful to our judicial careers and, perhaps most importantly, to encourage candidates to seek office when candidate filing opens May 6.
If you are reading this you already know being an attorney
is a position of service and trust. So is that of a judge and we commend it to you. You serve a system of justice that while not flawless has, in general, the well-earned confidence of society to achieve justice in every case. We reject those critics of the system who claim to seek to improve it, yet captiously flyspeck it and encourage public cynicism for their own purposes. There is enormous pride and accomplishment when the law is done well. You have helped people through what
is for them among the most emotional and difficult conflicts of their lives and you have helped make some of the most important decisions in our community.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man [or woman] stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man [or woman] who is actually in the arena ...” – Theodore Roosevelt
“My retirement plan is to get thrown into a minimum-security prison in Hawaii.”
– Julius Sharpe, Writer
A good judge has empathy for the plight of each litigant,
the desire to do them some good, the creativity and resourcefulness to think of ways of dealing with their problems and the determination and dedication to do the work according to law. A good judge, when possible, offers more than technical solutions. A good judge provides a litigant with wisdom and practicality; and often, a little counseling. You communicate and educate both by what you say and by how you behave.
Should you choose this career path and should you succeed in getting elected, keep in mind that as a judge your actions are done for flesh and blood people for whom your decisions have real and enduring consequences. Respect that and respect yourself and you will be all right.
You don’t have to change the world to make a lasting contribution because simply being a good and ethical judge will make all the difference in the world to the litigants and their families. And if, on occasion, it means that you improve the law for the rest of us too, that will be a bonus. A judge affects eternity and he or she can never tell where their influence stops
24 PIERCE COUNTY LAWYER | March/April 2024
Judge Bryan Chushcoff (Dept. 4) Judge Edmund Murphy (Dept. 9) Judge Garold Johnson (Dept. 10)
Judge Gretchen Leanderson (Dept. 15)