Assistant AG named new Grant County Superior Court judge

OLYMPIA – Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday announced the appointment of state Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Richardson as a new judge in Grant County Superior Court.

Richardson’s appointment, effective Jan. 9, fills a vacancy on the bench created when Ferguson named Judge Tyson Hill to the state Division III Court of Appeals in November. Hill assumed that appellate role Jan. 1.

In a press statement, the governor’s office said Richardson is a career litigator with more than two decades of legal experience. She has worked for the state AG’s office for a total of 12 years,  including the past four years as a managing assistant attorney general, advising and representing state agencies in Grant, Douglas, Chelan and Okanogan counties.

In that capacity, Richardson supervised four attorneys and two paralegals, and provided training to client agencies.

“Jennifer Richardson’s legal expertise and years of public service will make her an excellent Grant County judge,” Ferguson said in the press announcement.

“I am honored by this appointment and grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of Grant County,” Richardson said. “I am committed to careful, fair decision-making and to treating every person who comes before the court with dignity and respect.”

Information was not immediately available from the governor’s office regarding other prospective candidates for the appointment.

Richardson will join fellow Grant County Superior Court Judges Melissa Chlarson and Anna Gigliotti, elected respectively in 2024 and 2022. Richardson’s appointment will make her the seventh judge serving on the local bench in the past five years. Along with Tyson Hill’s appointment to the appellate court, Judge David Estudillo was appointed to U.S. District Court in Tacoma in 2021 while former Judges John Knodell and John Antosz have retired.

If Washington, superior court judges currently receive an annual salary of $228,261 – half paid by the state, half paid by the county. They preside over felony criminal cases, civil disputes over $50,000, real estate matters, domestic relations, juvenile and probate courts, adoptions and child dependencies, and district court appeals. The positions are non-partisan and subject to election.

Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Richardson spent more than 12 years as a deputy prosecutor at the Okanogan County Prosecuting Attorney’s office, including nine years as chief deputy criminal prosecutor. In that role, she oversaw and prosecuted a broad range of cases in district and superior courts.

Richardson also previously worked as a public defender with Colville attorney Scot D. Stuart’s office, representing defendants in a variety of proceedings, the governor’s office said.

Richardson earned her bachelor’s degree from Gonzaga University in Spokane and her law degree from Syracuse University.

Outside the courtroom, Richardson served on the state Attorney General’s Racial Equity Unit Goal Planning Committee, Manager Training Committee and Basic Litigation Skills Committee. She received numerous performance awards from the AG’s Office during her tenure there, according to the governor's office.

Richardson also enjoys hiking, gardening and spending time with family.