Page 10 - Pierce County Lawyer - September October 2024

SPECIAL FEATURE:
Judicial Candidates for Pierce County Superior Court
POSITION 1
Pierce County Superior Court Candidates
For the first time in a long time, we have a number of contested judicial elections for the Superior Court
bench; five, in fact. If you are like us, you have neighbors and friends who ask about the judicial elections. Every attorney
will have some opinions and is likely to have at least some acquaintance with the candidates. We thought that getting a little more information to our members would be useful and so we sent each candidate a short questionnaire. The results are below, arranged by the Superior Court position for which they are running. We hope you will find this useful.
POSITION 1 –
Judge TaTeasha Davis and Paul Robson
POSITION 4 –
John Cummings and Rebecca Reeder
POSITION 9 –
Scott Peters and Commissioner Doris Walkins
POSITION 10 –
Commissioner Camille Schaefer and Commissioner Philip Thornton
POSITION 15 –
Commissioner Ingrid McLeod and Brian Wasankari
Judge TaTeasha Davis
Campaign website:
www.electjudgedavis.com/
Education: Juris Doctorate from Washburn University School of Law and a BS/BA double major in History and English from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Experience: Incumbent Pierce
County Superior Court Judge with experience in civil litigation; Former Attorney for Pierce
County YWCA; Former Board Member on the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board; Legal volunteer at Catherine’s Place and Tacomaprobono; Former Board member of Associated Ministries and Pierce County YWCA; Trained mediator for Pierce County Center for Dialog and Resolution.
What type of judge do you aspire to be? I am a judge who values fairness, integrity and compassion. I treat everyone who enters my courtroom with those values. My goal is to ensure that every person who comes before me feels heard, respected, and treated fairly. I am committed to reducing barriers to access justice and improving public trust in the judiciary. Every decision I make is guided by my deep respect for the law and for the community.
I am honored to have received an "Exceptionally Well Qualified" rating from Washington Women Lawyers, their highest rating!
As a member of the legal community, what accomplishment(s) are you most proud of? I am proud to be appointed by the Governor to this role in 2022, and elected by the people in 2023. I’m proud to serve the community in this capacity and bring my lifetime of experience and passion for justice as
the Pierce County Superior Court Judge for Department 1. I’m honored to receive the confidence and unanimous endorsement of my fellow Superior Court Judges, and bipartisan support of local elected officials and several unions. Last but certainly not least, I am proud of the mentorship opportunities this position has afforded me. I believe true leadership means helping to bring up our community and the next generation.
What have you done or plan to do to eliminate bias or improve access to the justice system? I believe that improving access to justice starts with treating every person who enters my courtroom with dignity and respect regardless of their background and lived experiences. I have actively worked to eliminate bias and improve access to justice by promoting educational programs and outreach initiatives tailored to communities unfamiliar with the legal system. I advocate for increased availability of translation services and culturally competent legal assistance to ensure that language barriers do not impede access to justice. Moving forward, I plan to expand these efforts, incorporating more technology to facilitate access and understanding. Furthermore, I will continue
10 PIERCE COUNTY LAWYER | September/October 2024