After 28 years of service with the Seattle Municipal Court, Judge C. Kimi Kondo will be retiring effective Friday, January 11, 2019. Judge Kondo is the first Asian American woman appointed to the bench in the State of Washington.
Judge Kondo initially joined Seattle Municipal Court as a pro tempore magistrate judge in 1986 and then worked briefly as a full-time magistrate judge adjudicating traffic cases. She was appointed to a newly created judicial position in 1990 by Mayor Norman B. Rice. Judge Kondo served two consecutive two-year terms as the court’s Presiding Judge and was a member of the Executive Committee for many years. She has served on every calendar in the court.
Judge Kondo earned dual degrees in political science and journalism from the University of Idaho and her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Puget Sound. During law school, she worked with the Puyallup Indian Tribe. After graduation, she was in solo practice in Seattle handling family law, wills and estates, and small business cases. She joined early efforts to establish the Asian Bar Association of Washington (ABAW) and for many years has coordinated the Northwest Regional Thomas Tang Moot Court competition for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). She also served on the Board of Directors for Evergreen Legal Services (now Columbia Legal Services).
Judge Kondo has actively served the Washington Judiciary by participating on several boards and committees. She served on the statewide Gender and Justice Commission from 1994-2001. She actively participates as a member of the District and Municipal Court Judges Association and served on several committees including the presiding judges’ conference planning committee. She is a member of the Crisis Intervention Committee tasked with formulating revised training protocols for the Seattle Police Department as a result of the Department of Justice reform initiatives.
Judge Kondo was honored by the Asian Bar Association of Washington with the 2005 Judge of the Year award. In 2012, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association honored her with the Trailblazer award and she received a 20-year service award from the Washington State Association of Justice.
Judge-elect Andrea Chin was elected to replace Judge Kondo in November 2018 and will be sworn in on Monday, January 14, 2019.
CONTACT:
Gary Ireland, Public Information Officer, (206) 684-8710