Judge Ward Williams

DIVISION I, POSITION 5

January 14, 1970–January 9, 1989

Appointed by Governor Evans; Retired

Judge Ward Williams served three 6 year terms on Court of Appeals from 1969-1989. Prior to Court of Appeals, Judge Williams became one of Whatcom county’s first District Court judges. He was also one of two municipal court judges for most of the cities in the county. Gov. Daniel A. Evans appointed Judge Williams to the court—filling in a vacancy when Justice Charles Stafford was named to the state Supreme Court in 1969.

Judge Williams graduated from Olympia High School 1936, and received his JD from the University Of Washington School of Law in 1942. At the time, he was the youngest person to be admitted into the Washington State bar. He was the third generation in his family to have pursued a career in the legal sector. His grandfather, originally from the Midwest, was a lawyer. His father was the official reporter of Washington’s Supreme Court decisions for over 25 years.

When it came to transitioning from superior court, Judge Williams stated “I miss the contact with people . . . In District Court, I dealt all day long with people and people’s problems . . . On the Court of Appeals, it’s more quiet, contemplation, and a lot of reading.” During his 19 years with the Court of Appeals, Judge Williams was instrumental in changes introduced to streamline court proceedings. Before 1981, District court cases could be heard anew in Superior Court. Under new rules, District Court trials were recorded. If a case was appealed, the Superior Court judge reviewed the record and decided the case without holding a new trial.

He was also proud that the Court of Appeals was able to eliminate a backlog of cases. Under a special year-long program, Supreme Court judges and other active and retired judges held special hearings to erase the crush. To reduce the chance of another backlog, a rule was implemented to quickly dispose of cases that didn’t merit the court’s full review.

Williams’ interest in efficiency carried over to his own legal writings—something he hoped more judges would follow as an example. “I’d like to see their opinions be smooth, clear and short, which is not always the case . . . I visualize a lawyer handling a decision up to a judge and saying, ‘This is it.’ If it takes the judge a half an hour to read it, that won’t work.”

Prior to his judicial career, he served 4 years in the South Pacific during WWII, retiring as a colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve. Judge Williams had been living in his home on Lake Whatcom after his retirement, with his wife Connie Schmidt—to whom he had been married for over 50 years. He passed away at the age of 80 in his home on February 25, 1999.