Influential Woman · Legal

Rebecca Reeder

Superior Court Judge - Dept #4, Pierce County Superior Court

Tacoma, WA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree University of Washington (undergraduate) Degree University of Oregon (law school) Degree University of Puget Sound (law school transfer)

Her Story

About Rebecca

I began serving as a judge in January 2025 after campaigning throughout 2024. Another judge approached me and suggested I should think about running, and with several judges retiring, I put my name in for the election. I was lucky enough to be successful, receiving the most votes of all 10 candidates in our county of almost a million people. Before this, I practiced law for 31 years, primarily in family law. Every day is different now. Monday through Thursday, I try cases that could be criminal, divorce, labor and industries, with or without a jury. The areas of law I have to know are vast, which means I have a lot of homework at night. Fridays involve mini hearings that take a lot of time to prepare for, and in the afternoon it's a mishmash of mediations, sentencings, or motions. What I love most about my new position is that I'm learning something new every day, constantly growing. I didn't have any criminal experience before, so now I'm learning about criminal law. I was kind of maxed out in my last job after 30 years doing the same type of law, and it was time to learn something new. One of my proudest achievements from my practice was a case where I helped create new law in Washington State. The law used to be that parents had a constitutional right to parent, and even if they had drug addiction, were abusive, or had serious issues, kids would be forced to go to visitation. I had a case where that wasn't what I thought was best for the kids. The judge agreed with me, it was appealed, went to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, and it's now the law of the state that if you have issues and you're not correcting them, kids don't have to be forced to go. This was decided around 2014, and it's been helping older kids who were previously told they had to go with parents that potentially abused them.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Rebecca

01What do you attribute your success to?

I'm just very determined and motivated. When someone says you can't do it, I just say watch me. If they say that you can't do it, watch me. That's my motivation. I can do it, watch me.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The senior partner in my last firm said, befriend the attorney that is difficult. The most difficult attorneys, because they send you scathing letters, and they're just mean and nasty in court. Befriend them. Make them your new best friend. It was so hard, I'm like, there's no way I can do that. But we did, and it was amazing, because now all these people that were kind of jerks to other people were so nice to me, and it was easy to work with them, and it made my life easier, it made my client's case easier. That was by far the best advice.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

If someone says you can't do it, just watch me. They say that you can't do it, watch me. I can do it, watch me. That should be your motivation.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

The opportunities are that you can help a lot of people, whether it could just be encouraging someone or helping them with their case and giving them access to our system. The challenges are learning the law and applying it equally, without using any kind of bias or prejudice, or whether or not you like the person or not. You just have to be very neutral and fair. There's also a high burnout in this area because it's a tough industry. I see attorneys that work so many hours, so it's important to take vacation, do some type of self-care, whatever that looks like for you. For me, it was travel. Other people, it might be just read a book. But make sure you do something, because if you don't, people turn to alcohol or they're depressed or they're not thriving.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

In my work, you have to be transparent and honest. I think that's so important in what we do. I had a case where a doctor was being sued for malpractice, and this doctor treated my son in 2018, it was a long time ago, but I let them know and we got them to another judge. That transparency is really important. In life, I think just stick up for the underdog.

Keep Exploring