Lauren Jennifer King (born 1982)United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees: Lauren Jennifer King
/ref> is an American attorney and judge who is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Washington The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (in case citations, W.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays H ...

Early life and education

King was born in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. She earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 2004 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

in 2008."President Biden Announces Third Slate of Judicial Nominees", White House, May 12, 2021
King is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Career

King was an associate at

K&L Gates K&L Gates LLP is an American multinational corporation law firm based in the United States, with international offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Its namesake firms are Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, a Pittsburgh-ba ...

from 2008 to 2009 and Byrnes Keller Cromwel from 2010 to 2012. She was a principal at Foster Garvey, P.C. based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, where she practiced from 2012 to 2021. She served as a

pro tem ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

appellate judge for the Northwest Intertribal Court System from 2013 to 2021. She was also appointed as a commissioner on the

Washington State Gambling Commission The Washington State Gambling Commission is an agency of the government of the State of Washington, founded in 1973 as the state's gaming control board, which is responsible for enforcing gambling laws and regulations. This organization is the sec ...

. She previously taught Federal Indian Law at the

Seattle University School of Law Seattle University School of Law, or Seattle Law School, or SU Law (formerly University of Puget Sound School of Law) is the law school affiliated with Seattle University, the Northwest's largest independent university. The School is accredite ...

Federal judicial service

On March 30, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated King to serve as a

of the

to the seat vacated by Judge

Robert S. Lasnik Robert Stephen Lasnik (born 1951) is an American attorney and jurist, who serves as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Education and career Born in Staten Island, ...

, who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on January 27, 2016. On June 9, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On July 15, 2021, her nomination was reported out of committee by a 13–9 vote. On October 5, 2021, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

invoked cloture on her nomination by a 55–44 vote. Her nomination was confirmed later that day by a 55–44 vote. She received her judicial commission on December 7, 2021. She is the first

Native-American Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States (Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United States are ...

federal judge to serve in

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. As of October 2022, she is the seventh overall Native American federal judge in the United States, and the fifth serving on the bench.

References

External links

* * 1982 births Living people 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century Native Americans 21st-century Native American women 21st-century American women judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Lawyers from Oklahoma City Muscogee (Creek) Nation people Native American judges Native American lawyers Oklahoma lawyers Puyallup Tribe people Seattle University faculty United States district court judges appointed by Joe Biden University of Virginia School of Law alumni University of Washington alumni Washington (state) lawyers {{US-federal-judge-stub

Early life and education

Career

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links