There will be a new judge in Pierce County in 2023. Here are her credentials, priorities
Gov. Jay Inslee has appointed TaTeasha Davis, a member of a state sentencing review board and a former Tacoma family law attorney, to replace retiring Pierce County Superior Court Judge James R. Orlando.
Davis, who has served on the Washington State Department of Corrections’ Indeterminate Sentence Review Board since 2020, will take over for Orlando after he steps down Dec. 31, according to a news release Thursday from Inslee’s office.
“TaTeasha has worked in an array of practice areas, often representing clients who have faced racism and other unfortunate biases. And in her current role with the ISRB, she has gained experience as a neutral decision-maker,” Inslee said in a statement. “This varied professional experience will serve her well in navigating disputes before the Pierce County Superior Court.”
Davis, 42, previously practiced family law as counsel for the Pierce County YWCA, a nonprofit helping domestic violence victims and their children, and as a senior attorney at Bighorse and Associates. Before then, she managed a private practice in downtown Seattle that handled family law, bankruptcy and personal injury cases.
“This has been a dream of mine for a long time,” Davis said in an interview. “It is just having the ability to serve the community in a different way at a higher level. My career has been centered around serving. That’s what attorneys do: We advocate.”
Davis, who grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and moved in 2005 to Washington where she took the state bar exam, said she aspires to be a fair and compassionate judge who takes into account the barriers faced by people who come before her.
“I want to treat people as human beings in my courtroom,” she said.
As a member of the state’s Indeterminate Sentence Review Board, Davis routinely saw individuals who had already been sentenced, served a minimum term and put in some degree of work to rehabilitate themselves. Her job was to help decide whether they had done enough to be released and whether they could be a contributing member to society.
In that role as a quasi-judicial officer, Davis said she gained valuable experience listening to people while evaluating cases on factors laid out in state statute.
Inslee’s office said that Davis volunteers with Tacoma ProBono and sits on the boards of the Pierce County YWCA and Associated Ministries, a nonprofit focused on finding solutions to homelessness through partnerships with interfaith groups.
“Both organizations deeply align with her personal values to serve marginalized communities and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Inslee’s office said.
Davis earned her law degree from Washburn School of Law in Topeka, Kansas, and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia, where she majored in English and history, according to the Governor’s Office.
Davis told The News Tribune that she has lived in Tacoma for about eight years. Beyond her legal career, Davis said she is an avid reader who participated in ballroom dancing competitions while in college and enjoys hiking with her dog.
Orlando, who she will replace, served on the county Superior Court bench for more than two decades, according to his court biography. He was the Washington State Association for Justice’s Judge of the Year in 2010 and the presiding judge for the court’s criminal division in 2005 and juvenile court in 2006.
This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 7:05 AM.
