Vickie I. Churchill was first elected judge in 1996 and served as judge for the Superior Court for Island and San Juan counties from January 1997 until January 2008 when the joint judicial district was dissolved. Since then, she has served as Island County Superior Court Judge.

Since Judge Churchill has come on the bench, she has been instrumental in making significant improvements to Superior Court with the Juvenile Detention Center; three drug courts for juveniles, adults, and families; a court facilitator program for indigent civil litigants; Community Accountability Boards; mandatory parenting classes; mediation in family law cases; and a Teen Court, which had to be discontinued because of budget cuts.

She has served with honor in statewide organizations and was awarded the 2010 Outstanding Judge of the Year Award by the Washington State Bar Association for her efforts in retaining funding for the judiciary statewide. She was involved in getting the Family and Juvenile Court Improvement Plan law passed to improve outcomes in dependency cases.

She served as co-chair from 2007-2009 with Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander on the Board of Judicial Administration, which is the administrative governing board for the court system in Washington State. She has been president of the Washington State Superior Court Judges' Association (SCJA), co-chair of the SCJA's Legislative Committee from 2007 to the present, a member of the Washington State Supreme Court's Gender & Justice Commission from 2009 to the present, and a current member of the Washington State Supreme Court's Washington State's Minority & Justice Commission.

She was successful in getting additional state funds for the Island County's CASA program. Through her efforts with the state Justice in Jeopardy Initiative, the state began paying part of district court salaries, thus returning money to Island County, which has been used to make improvements to Island County Superior Court and Island County District Court.

Born and raised in Hereford, Texas, Judge Churchill came to Whidbey Island in 1972 and has resided here continuously since 1976. She graduated with honors from the University of Missouri - Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 1969. She returned to school in September 1984 to study law and obtain her Juris Doctor degree with honors in December 1986.