No Other Candidate Comes Close
Dave's Background Is Far and Above Superior.
Judge Dave Larson is the most experienced, best prepared, and most qualified candidate in this race. His 41 years of experience is filled with distinguished service in many roles that gave him the perspective needed to review the decisions of other judges and to create the court rules that govern court proceedings and court operations.
Dave's background and experience is far and above superior to any other candidate. His experience gives him the depth of practical, in-the-courtroom and in-the-boardroom judgment that no other candidate can match. The contrast here is one of qualifications and experience, not personality or politics.
No other candidate has:
- Served as a highly rated trial judge for 18 years.
- Served as a highly rated civil trial lawyer for 23 years.
- Managed an entire court for 16 years.
- Taught new judges at Judicial College for 10 years.
- Successfully worked with Democrats and Republicans in the legislature to improve our courts for 17 years.
- Served on multiple important judicial committees for 18 years.
- Served on multiple state and local bar association committees for 23 years.
- Received multiple awards for his long-time involvement in civics education for youth and adults.
- Received the DMCJA President's Award for protecting judicial independence statewide. His work protecting judicial independence statewide helped inspire the formation of the DMCJA Council on Independent Courts.
- Served as in-house counsel, owned a law firm, owned a dispute resolution company, and served as Of Counsel at a large law firm handling complex civil litigation on a state and national level.
An appeal is like instant replay in the NFL. When analyzing the calls of referees, the NFL does not use former players, and they do not use referees who are new to the game. They use seasoned experienced referees who have paid their dues on the field. Dave is that seasoned experienced person who will be best suited to understand the complex and nuanced aspects of cases before the Supreme Court, and his "boots on the ground" experience is essential when the Supreme Court considers court rules that affect cases, courts, and our communities.
Two of Dave's opponents have never been judges, and Dave has served three times longer as a judge than his other opponent (18 years versus 6 years).
We need a seasoned veteran, like Dave, who has paid his dues for 41 years (18 years as a judge/referee and 23 years as a trial lawyer/player) on the very playing field that the Supreme Court is charged with managing and overseeing. No other candidate comes close!
This combination — 23 years seeing courts from the advocate's chair, followed by 18 years seeing them from the bench — is extraordinarily rare. None of the other sitting justices even comes close to Dave's diversity and depth of experience.
What that means in practice: Dave's experience is essential when the Supreme Court deliberates on a court rule managing criminal or civil litigation, a court rule managing courts that also affects lawyers and law firms, a statute being considered by the legislature that affects courts, or a legal decision on a tough case. Dave Larson is the person in the room who has sat on all sides of those decisions. Everyone can read what is on paper on these issues, but Dave knows how they will actually land in real courtrooms, how they will affect the delivery of justice in our communities, and how they will affect real people across Washington.
