Redmond City Council member Kimberly Allen is challenging Judge Douglass North for King County Superior Court, Pos. 30.

Allen has served on council for seven years and is currently a land-use attorney. She has heard and decided more than 100 land-use cases in municipalities throughout the Puget Sound area. Allen has also served as a criminal prosecutor, civil litigator and as an Arizona Assistant Attorney General.

Allen, 53, said she is running because she sees a “great unmet need for a broad range of legal skills and new energy,” according to a press release.

“In King County, the court faces significant turnover in the next decade,” she said in the release. “We need a new generation of listeners who are committed to making everyone who comes to the court feel respected and heard. Our judges should reflect the community we serve.”

Allen’s decision to challenge North for Pos. 30 was also prompted by his not taking the bench for months due to illness, in spite of a crushing backlog of cases. The daily calendar lists him as “On Leave.” While she empathizes with his circumstance, Allen believes that the court does not have the discretionary resources in this economic climate to cover his caseload indefinitely with no indication of when he can resume his duties, the release stated.

After being urged to consider a contest for North’s seat, Allen reviewed his record.

“I was disturbed by North’s handling of two high-profile rape cases where defendants were permitted to cross examine their accusers personally with minimal intervention by the judge,” she said. “I saw a Fox News interview he gave where he said that he could do nothing to intervene in what he described as a heart-wrenching cross examination of these young women. I disagree. Courtroom control is a judge’s responsibility and I believe we can assure a defendant’s full right to confrontation while demanding respectful treatment of all witnesses.”

Allen has litigated cases as a prosecutor in a number of practice areas that come before Superior Court. Her work as a hearing officer requires navigating the land-use law in hearings with citizens facing impending changes in their neighborhoods.

“My years as a Council member listening to the people I represent makes me a very good listener, which is a key skill for a judge,” she said.

Allen’s work as a Redmond City Council member has focused on smart growth, the environment and regional transit and she has been endorsed by Redmond Mayor John Marchione.

She said there are only two people running for Pos. 30, so if she receives more than 50 percent of votes in the primary election on Aug. 7, she will win the election and her term as judge would begin Jan. 1, 2013. Allen’s term on Redmond City Council ends on Dec. 31, 2013, so she would have to resign from her position if elected.

“The council would then appoint someone for the balance of my term,” she said. “I do not have a say in the appointment but I can recommend a candidate. Anyone can apply for the appointment – it is an open process.”

Allen has two children and lives in downtown Redmond with her husband.

For more information, visit www.Kimallenforjudge.com.

Two other Redmond residents are running for King County Superior Court judicial positions as well.

Redmond resident Marianne Jones is running for Pos. 42, challenging Judge Chris Washington. Jones has served as a judge pro tem in King County District Court since 2009.

“I felt at home on the bench since the beginning of my pro tem experience,” she said on her campaign website. “My ability to listen to the people before me, understand their circumstances, respectfully explain my application of the law to their issue and do so efficiently and patiently makes me comfortable on the bench.”

If elected, Jones stated on he website that she would work “tirelessly to equalize the access all citizens should have to the court system, to focus on helping all people of King County by efficiently administering justice through (her) courtroom, and to accomplish the next wave of positive change in the court system.”

Jones is a graduate of the University of Puget Sound School of Law, now known as Seattle University School of Law, and has worked as a business litigation attorney since 1992, according to her website. She has and her law firm, Jones Law Group, PLLC, have worked on more than 100 cases and represented more than 500 businesses and individuals.

For more information, visit www.jonesforjudge2012.squarespace.com.

Redmond resident Elizabeth Berns is running for Pos. 25 in a three-way contested race against Roger Davidheiser of Vashon Island and Eric Schmidt of Seattle. The position is currently held by Judge Jim Doerty, who did not file for re-election.

Berns is currently serving her third year as a judge pro tem for several municipal courts and King County District Courts as well as a commissioner pro tem for King County Superior Court, according to her website.

“I preside primarily over criminal matters in municipal and district courts and civil matters in Superior Court,” she stated on her website. “As a pro teem judge and commissioner, I have a reputation for being competent, compassionate and committed to rendering fair, well-thought and clearly communicated decisions.”

Berns, who has also been endorsed by Marchione, is running because she cares about the people who appear before her and the standard of professionalism in the legal community, according to her website. She also cares that judges are a true and positive reflection of the diverse community they serve.

Berns studied environmental health and law at the University of Washington and graduated from the University of Puget Sound School of Law.

For more information, visit www.bernsforjudge.com.

Juvenile court Judge J. Wesley Saint Clair has filed for re-election for Pos. 17. He is running unopposed.