2021 Fifteenth Annual Banquet

October 20, 2021

MAMA Seattle’s Fifteenth Annual Banquet was held virtually on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. MAMA Seattle was proud to present Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis, Associate Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, with the MAMA Seattle 2021 Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Award. MAMA Seattle’s Betty Binns Fletcher Leadership and Justice Award is given each year to an individual who has paved the way to success for, and has served as an inspiration to, other mother attorneys striving to excel in their legal careers while balancing family demands.  Justice Bobbe J. Bridge, ret., provided introductory remarks.

Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis

Justice Montoya-Lewis was appointed to the Washington State Supreme Court by Governor Jay Inslee in December 2019, took the oath of office on January 6, 2020, and won a full six-year term in 2020. Prior to becoming an Associate Justice, she served as a Superior Court judge for Whatcom County for five years, where she heard criminal and civil trials and presided over the Whatcom County Therapeutic Drug Court. In the 15 years prior to her work on the Superior Court, she served as a tribal court judge for multiple tribes in the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest. She served as Chief Judge for the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, the Nooksack Indian Tribe, and the Lummi Nation. In addition to her work as a tribal court judge, she was a tenured Associate Professor at Western Washington University’s Fairhaven College.  She was the recipient of the 2020 ABOTA Judge of the Year Award.

Justice Montoya-Lewis continues to use her teaching skills as a jurist, instructing a wide variety of audiences including judges, social workers, lawyers, and advocates on implicit bias, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and best practices in child welfare and domestic violence cases. Justice Montoya-Lewis graduated with her BA degree from the University of New Mexico in 1992 and completed her law and Master of Social Work degrees at the University of Washington in 1995 and 1996, respectively. Justice Montoya-Lewis is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Isleta and a descendant of the Pueblo of Laguna, two federally recognized tribes in New Mexico. She is the first enrolled member of any tribe to sit on a state supreme court in the U.S. She is also of Jewish descent.  Justice Montoya-Lewis has been married to her partner, Colin, for 29 years, and they have two teenagers, Zach (19), and Shaun (16).