Chief Judge Beth M. Andrus

Judge Andrus was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to the Court of Appeals in June 2018 after serving 8 years as a trial judge with King County Superior Court. Before taking the bench, Judge Andrus had over 20 years in private practice with the law firms of Schweppe Krug & Tausend, Miller Nash, and Skellenger Bender. Her practice ranged from employment law, intellectual property, commercial litigation, construction law, and appellate advocacy. She started her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Gerald Heaney of the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

At King County Superior Court, Judge Andrus presided over civil, criminal, psychiatric civil commitment, family law, and dependency cases. She was a member of that court's Executive Committee, served as Assistant Presiding Judge, and managed the civil department as Chief Civil Judge. In 2016, the King County Chapter of Washington Women Lawyers honored Judge Andrus with their Judge of the Year Award. Seattle University Law School and the Women's Law Caucus named her their 2017 Woman of the Year. Later that same year, Judge Andrus received King County Bar Association's Outstanding Judge of the Year Award.

Judge Andrus received her undergraduate degree in French and Speech/Public Relations from Wayne State University, her law degree from the University of Minnesota, and a Master's in Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. Judge Andrus's thesis, published in 2016, studied the phenomenon of the "vanishing civil trial" both nationally and in King County Superior Court.

Judge Andrus lives in Seattle with her husband, Mark, but both spend significant time beachcombing, crabbing, and mushrooming on Hood Canal.