THE HONORABLE MARSHA J. PECHMAN (Peck'●man) has served since 1999 as a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.  Formerly the Chief U.S. District Judge of the District (2012-2016), she took senior status in February, 2016. Judge Pechman has sat on the Ninth Circuit Education Committee and the Ninth Circuit Jury Instruction Committee as well as serving as faculty for the new District Judge and new Chief Judge orientation programs of the Federal Judicial Center.

Prior to her appointment to the federal bench, she sat for twelve years (1988-1999) as a King County Superior Court Judge, serving on the Executive Committee and as a member of Superior Court committees devoted to ethics, education, jury, mental health and personnel issues.

Judge Pechman was formerly a partner in the Seattle civil firm of Levinson, Friedman, Vhugen, Duggan, Bland & Horowitz, as well as a King County prosecutor. She has been a public defender while supervising the criminal law defender clinic at the University of Washington Law School. Judge Pechman was also the director of the Seattle University Law School Clinical Programs. She graduated from Cornell University in 1973 with a B.A. and received her J.D. from Boston University Law School in 1976.

She is a founder of Justice Advocacy Africa, an organization dedicated to teaching trial skills and promoting pro bono representation in multiple African nations. In that capacity, Judge Pechman has traveled frequently to Uganda, Kenya, Botswana and Malawi since 2003. JAA has trained over 550 African lawyers.