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January 10, 2025

Welcome Washington’s New State Judicial Outreach Liaison

Hon. J. Matthew Martin & Hon. Adam Eisenberg

The Hon. Adam Eisenberg is the new Washington State Judicial Outreach Liaison (JOL).  A former judge on the Seattle Municipal Court, he currently serves as a judge pro tem for the Tulalip Tribal Court.

“I am honored to be a pro tem judge for the Tulalip Tribal Court,” he explained. “It is a wonderful Court that offers defendants life-changing alternatives to incarceration via therapeutic programs like its amazing Wellness Court. “In Washington state we have 29 tribal courts,” Judge Eisenberg added. “As the new state JOL, I hope to provide tribal court judges with updates on the latest legal issues involving impaired driving, and to assist those courts that wish to create their own DUI therapeutic courts.”

A non-Indian, Judge Eisenberg grew up on a small cattle ranch outside Boulder, Colorado. After earning a journalism degree from the University of Colorado, he worked for seven years as a Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist for magazines in the United States, Japan, France and England. A career change led him to law school, and he earned his Juris Doctor from University of Washington in 1992. Since then, he has served as a criminal prosecutor, a civil trial attorney, a court commissioner, an elected judge, and an adjunct law professor.

While on the Seattle Municipal Court bench, Judge Eisenberg was the judicial sponsor for the Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP), a collaborative, community-based program that serves as an alternative to jail by providing individualized treatment to break the cycles of abuse and trauma. He was also co-director of the Seattle Youth Traffic Court, a restorative justice court in which high school students hand down sentences for teens who have gotten tickets in Seattle.

Outside the courtroom, Judge Eisenberg has been teaching “Museum Law” at the University of Washington since 2011, and each year he introduces students to the many complexities of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the Indian Arts and Crafts Act. He also practices the martial art of aikido and is the author of the nonfiction book, A Different Shade of Blue: How Women Changed the Face of Police Work.

Hon. Adam Eisenberg

Washington State JOL

Seattle, Washington

Hon. J. Matthew Martin

ABA Tribal Courts Fellow

Asheville, North Carolina

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