Judge Ketu’s Bio

Judge Ketu Shah is currently the Presiding Judge for King County Superior Court and has been a judge since 2013, first in District Court and then in Superior Court. Judge Shah is the former Chief Criminal Judge, Assistant Presiding Judge, and Chief Judge for the MRJC. Judge Shah also presided over the Regional Mental Health Court and the Regional Veterans Court for 3.5 years.

Judge Shah has been a faculty member for Judicial College since 2017 and a Dean for Judicial College in 2019 & 2021. He is a member of the Minority and Justice Commission and has presented at the WSBA Pro Tem training on ethics, virtual voir dire, immigration, criminal procedure and competency issues.

Judge Shah is a graduate of Whitman College and the University of Minnesota Law School where he was a Managing Editor for the Journal of Law and Inequality. Judge Shah was on the board for several years with the South Asian Bar Association of Washington and served on the Judicial Evaluation Committee for the Asian Bar Association.  In 2024, he was awarded Judge of the Year by the ABAW, the 2010 Trailblazer Award by the South Asian Bar Association and the 1998 Community Award by the City of Vancouver. He coached select soccer for over 15 years for girls and boys after playing soccer in college and is a former board member of his local youth soccer club.

Jeanne Marie’s Bio

JEANNE MARIE CLAVERE is a 1987 graduate of the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now Seattle University School of Law). Prior to earning her law degree, she received a Master of Business Administration from DePaul University in Chicago. In February 2010, she joined the staff of the Washington State Bar Association as Professional Responsibility Counsel.
After four years with a Seattle law firm, Jeanne Marie began her solo practice in 1992, focusing on estate planning, elder law (including complex guardianships, trusts, and guardian ad litem appointments), and contract based criminal prosecution. As Senior Professional Responsibility Counsel, Jeanne Marie serves as an advisor to members of the bar on the Rules of Professional Conduct as they apply to WSBA Advisory Ethics Opinions, the Rules for Enforcement of Lawyer Conduct, and the ABA Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions. She has been invited to lecture on Professionalism, Civility, and Ethics at all three Washington law schools, for the American Bar Association, for the National Organization of Bar Counsel, and speaks at various local bar CLE’s throughout the state. Jeanne Marie staffs the WSBA Ethics Line which handles over 2000 calls a year from Washington licensed legal professionals around the world. This confidential line is a resource for attorneys to discuss and analyze their ethical dilemmas and prospective decisions related to the Washington Rules of Professional Conduct.
While in private practice Jeanne Marie appeared before a wide range of courts and tribunals, ranging from Ex Parte hearings to trials on guardianship and criminal issues, and served for many years as a Settlement, Litigation, Adoption, Family Law, Incapacity and Probate Guardian ad Litem in King and Snohomish Counties. Jeanne Marie is Past President of the state Washington Women Lawyers, past Chair of the Washington State Bar Association Elder Law Section and served on the executive committee of the King County Bar Association Guardianship and Elder Law Section. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the ABA’s Center for Professional Responsibility, is a Washington Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and is an Emeritus Member of the William L. Dwyer Inn of Court. Jeanne Marie also serves as the Past President of the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations and as their delegate to the
American Bar Association. She is a past director on the board of the International Action Network for Gender Equity and Law.
Opinions expressed herein are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the official or unofficial position of the Washington State Bar Association or the WSBA Advancement Department. Members seeking guidance or information about ethics may contact WSBA Professional Responsibility Counsel on the Ethics Line at 206-727-8284.

Presentation Summary

The King County Bar Association Civics Stewardship Program is aimed at reviewing with community members the basic structure of our government. In particular, it aims to dispel misunderstandings about our justice system and its role in the three branches of government.