2015 Ninth Annual Banquet

Chief Justice Barbara Madsen

MAMA Seattle’s Ninth Annual Banquet was held on Friday, November 6, 2015, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle. MAMA Seattle was pleased to honor Chief Justice Barbara Madsen with the 2015 Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Award. Chief Justice Madsen’s daughter, Hillary Madsen, provided introductory remarks.

Justice Madsen serves as the 55th Chief Justice of the Washington Supreme Court, where she was first elected to serve in 1992 (and re-elected in 1998, 2004, and 2010). She is well known for her work on domestic violence and gender equality issues, and has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to the pursuit of justice and equality in Washington state. In 2004, Justice Madsen co-chaired the Crystal Brame Committee which secured legislation requiring all police agencies to adopt investigation protocol for police perpetrated domestic violence. Since 2005, she has led efforts to establish the Initiative for Diversity, a program encouraging legal employers to commit to and implement individual organizational plans to increase diversity. Chief Justice Madsen has also chaired the Washington State Gender and Justice Commission since 1998, and is committed to continuing the Supreme Court’s long-standing support for access to justice and to eliminating gender and race bias in the courts. And all of this is but a small part of Justice Madsen’s ongoing work! She typifies the core values of MAMA Seattle’s Leadership and Justice Award, and MAMA Seattle was thrilled to be able to honor Chief Justice Madsen at our 2015 Annual Banquet.