From left: Judge Kondo’s clerk, bailiff Katherine Duell, Judge Kondo, former clerk Daniel O’Brien, and former bailiff Leonard Baquian. (Photo by Assunta Ng)
After 28 years of service with the Seattle Municipal Court, Judge C. Kimi Kondo retired on Jan. 11. She was the first Asian American woman appointed to the bench in the State of Washington.
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 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.
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.