OLYMPIA – Thurston County Superior Court Judge Paula Casey will retire July 31 after 30 years. The public is invited to a ceremony celebrating her service the afternoon of July 31 at the Thurston County Superior Court building.
Judge Casey was appointed as a Court Commissioner for the Thurston County Superior Court in 1982. In 1984, she was elected as Superior Court Judge for the joint Thurston-Mason County judicial district. She was elected to six subsequent terms in Thurston County. Over her career she handled all the types of Superior Court work, including the third and final death penalty trial of Mitchell Rupe.
Judge Casey is best known locally and around the state for her work with Family and Juvenile Court. She was instrumental in the co-location of Family and Juvenile Court operations in Thurston County’s current second courthouse attached to the Juvenile detention facility in the Mottman Industrial area. She advocated for best practice principles for family matters including a judiciary serving on long-term assignments to this work and specialized education for judges beyond the law on issues involving families and children. The best practices also include a single judge being assigned to all a family’s cases and hearings and the early use of problem-solving, non-adversarial practices such as mediation. These best practice principles have been adopted as state-wide goals.
Judge Casey was a founding board member of Thurston County’s Dispute Resolution Center. Other projects early in her career included local rules for mandatory mediation of parenting disputes and introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution Week twice a year for low-income mediation of civil cases. She has served several terms as the Court’s Presiding Judge.
Judge Casey ends her judicial career on assignment to Family and Juvenile Court.
