Hanging up the robe

Mason County Superior Court Judge Amber Finlay has seen a lot in her legal career and will hang up her robe for the last time June 30.

Finlay, 60, has been on the bench in superior court since starting the job in 2009.

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, her family moved to Kent when she was 6 years old.

"I was a truant kid," Finlay recalled to the Journal. "Because of life issues, I didn't go to school. I would go to band, I would go to debate. I was one of those types of skippers. I really wanted to go to college, though."

Finlay told a story about being pulled from band class in high school because the principal wanted to talk to her.

"He pulls me out into the hallway, he's standing out there with a counselor and he looks at me and he goes, 'Why aren't you getting straight A's in my school?' " Finlay remembered. "He goes, 'You need to show up to school, you need to be coming here and getting your grades up so you can go to college.' I just looked at him and I was just wow, somebody cared. I went back to school, started going, got my grades up, got into university."

She said it wasn't until about a year ago that she thought about that story and the difference it made in her life.

As a kid, she wanted to be a hockey player, but when she was a kid, girls didn't play hockey. Her mom was a nurse and at one point, she wanted to be a nurse, but hated chemistry. She had an interest in international law and some of her college professors encouraged her to think about law school.

She attended the University of Washington for one year, then went to King's University College in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, for a couple years before completing her bachelor's at Washington. She attended University of Puget Sound Law School and passed the bar exam in 1990.

Finlay worked in Ritzville briefly before beginning work in Mason County in 1991 as a deputy prosecutor in the Mason County Prosecutor's Office under Gary Burleson. She said she started at the prosecutor's office because she wanted to be in the courtroom and wanted to try cases. She said Burleson was a fantastic boss.

"I learned a lot from him. I loved trying cases, that was stressful, but it was fun," Finlay.

A part-time job opened as a judge in Mason County Municipal Court in 2002. She took the job because she had two young kids and a stepson at home.

Judge James Sawyer decided to retire in 2008 and that's when she ran for superior court judge. It was a contested race against Richard C. Adamson and Daniel Goodell and they all decided early to not attack each other. She said she was blessed and fortunate to be involved in a campaign that was based on their resumes.

"[Former Washington Supreme Court] Justice Gerry Alexander told me that everyone should have to run for election once so they know what it's like to sell themselves and to be up for such public scrutiny," Finlay said. "It's difficult to do an election and for a judge, we have so many rules we must follow. There are so many things that we cannot get ourselves involved in. I think that's difficult sometimes because obviously, the public wants to vote for somebody who feels the same way they do about a particular issue but a judge can't tell you I feel this way about this issue so it makes it difficult."

She said she's seen judicial elections that have not been handled nicely and was grateful to not have an election with smears. She said she didn't think she would win, but her campaign manager said she would win.

"She said I had a very good shot because of all of my trial work," Finlay said. "It's a huge job and you don't go in there thinking automatically I'm going to win. You give it your best shot."

Finlay had a booth at the Mason County Fair and campaigned with her mom there, who enjoyed talking with everyone who approached.

Finlay won the election with 13,186 votes, defeating Goodell by 1,182 ballots. She said being a superior court judge is the most interesting job she's ever had.

"As a superior court judge, it's a court of general jurisdiction so you see a whole variety of things," Finlay said. "You're never bored. In any given day, you could be looking at 10 different areas of law. ... It's never a dull moment around here, there is a lot of very interesting cases. Some of the best times I think of when I've sat on the bench and I've had attorneys who were very professional, really knew what they were doing and you just sit up there and you get to hear all these cases and all this stuff and you're like I get to do this for a living. It's really fun, it's a lot of work, you've got to read a lot. I've had quite a few cases that I've felt very fortunate being able to sit on and listen."

Finlay said the job is much harder when there isn't a lot of information about a case. She said a lot of cases aren't always clear in which side will win a case, depending on which type of law the case is about. For example, Finlay said criminal law does not have a lot of gray area but in family law and dependencies, judges have a lot of discretion because you must carefully listen to each party and determine the proper outcome.

Finlay says she has made mistakes but that the best thing to do is not be afraid to correct them.

"Judge Sawyer told me never be afraid to reconsider yourself," Finlay said. "I think that was very good advice."

She said there have been times where she's handed down a ruling that didn't feel good.

"This is what the law says, and I know that is the right decision but I'm just uncomfortable," Finlay said. "But that's OK, because I need to follow the law. I need to do what's best and it's not my job to criticize the law to an extent."

Having been involved in law for 32 years, she's seen how it has changed. Finlay said one of the things that has changed significantly is how the court views juveniles. She said it used to be if a juvenile committed a violent offense, they would be treated as an adult and would receive a sentence as an adult. After studies showed that children's brains aren't fully developed until their mid-20s, it changed the way juvenile offenders were treated.

She said the law passed creating community truancy boards has also been implemented to deal with juvenile cases.

"It used to be truancy, you'd come to court if you were found truant and then if you violated that by not going to school, you'd go to detention," Finlay said. "Now, they really try to work it out with the school first-hand, go work that and then have that important conversation with those people at school who know the child and then if they have to come back to court and be found in contempt, we're looking at alternatives to detention. That was a big change on how we look at juveniles."

She had some cases come back from the 1990s and be resentenced because of those changes.

Finlay also had to deal with court cases through Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the superior court still conducts some cases through Zoom. She said it was an adjustment and there are some cases that need to be in-person.

"There are times, for example, where you cannot be in court," Finlay said. "You're in another state, you're somewhere else so to be able to be there, through a platform that allows the judge to see you with use of, you can still provide your exhibits. We came up with ways to be able to do Zoom trials and we did a few Zoom civil trials. I think that's not going to go away, for some things, it's a good idea."

Mason County added a third superior court judge in 2015 thanks to state legislation. Finlay was able to serve with Goodell, whom she ran against in 2008.

Finlay said she was relieved when the third judge was added because they were only able to deal with criminal cases before the third judge. Civil cases "weren't going anywhere." It helped the judges get other work done and allowed Finlay to work in the juvenile area, increase the amount of therapy courts and create a family reunification court.

She said one of her favorite cases was an imminent domain case and she also enjoyed property law cases. Finlay also recalled dealing with people who were involved in substance abuse cases and seeing them years later after resolving their case.

"Years later, you see them in a store, and they remember you and you remember their face, maybe not their name but they start talking and all of the sudden, you look at them and you're like you're not that same angry dude I saw 10 years ago or woman five years ago who was frantic or was losing her children because of this," Finlay said. "You are doing great. That's wonderful to see how much hard work a lot of people have done."

When Finlay moved to Western Washington, she lived in Olympia with her future husband for a year before getting married and moving to Shelton.

"We've liked living here. It's been a nice town to be in and I think the people, like I've said, I've got the best staff," Finlay said. "I get to brag about them. I go to conferences and there are judges who don't get along with their bench mates, there are problems with their staff and I'm like not me, I'm lucky."

She decided to retire for a couple reasons. Her husband had cancer in 2015 and while he's cured of it, she wants to spend more time with him.

"We have always been on the opposite sides of a court room or times we just can't talk about things because he's not going to share client secrets, I'm not going to share stuff that I'm doing and I just woke up one day and went, I don't think I want to do this right now," Finlay said. "I think I want to spend time with him. I want to be able to spend time with my husband, be able to have conversations, have us do things together and so I think I really started looking at that. ... Let's use the time now, let's spend time together now."

Finlay said she has a list of things she wants to do, including learning Spanish, seeing relatives in Canada she hasn't seen in a while, go to the opera and take her little sister to a hockey game.

When asked what legacy she is leaving for Mason County Superior Court, she said she doesn't know.

"I'm just grateful I was given this opportunity," Finlay said. "I don't really think I have a legacy. I'm just grateful."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

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