George Finkle
Retired King County Superior Court Judge
Judge Finkle was appointed to the King County Superior Court in December 1989 and served until October 1999, when he joined JdR. Before taking the bench, Judge Finkle was a partner in Burns Schneiderman Finkle, Deputy Director of the Seattle-King County Public Defender, an associate at Preston Thorgrimson, and law clerk to the Hon. Jerome Farris.
Contact:
Experience and Specialties
Judge Finkle limits his ADR work to arbitrations. Since joining JdR, Judge Finkle has arbitrated hundreds of state and federal civil cases. His arbitration experience includes modest-sized and large complex cases involving contracts, employment, International, insurance, maritime, healthcare, agriculture, high technology, patent/licensing/trademark, real estate, securities, shareholders, construction, family law, partnership, consumer, and class actions. Judge Finkle has served as Special Master in dozens of state and federal cases, has consulted in litigation, and has supervised elections.
While a member of the Superior Court bench, Judge Finkle’s diverse trial docket included State v. American Tobacco (the multi-billion dollar lead case in the national tobacco litigation), as well as hundreds of other complex and straightforward civil cases.
Judge Finkle has been a speaker at Continuing Legal Education seminars covering topics including effective arbitration, mediation, and trial practice.
Judge Finkle has been a visiting Professor of Law in the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Lithuania.
Special Honors and Memberships
Legal:
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Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators
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Chief Civil Judge, King County Superior Court
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Volunteer Mediator, Seattle Police / Citizen disputes and King County Superior Court
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Washington State Bar Examiner
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Commissioner, Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission
Other:
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Associated Grocers Board of Directors / Chair, Executive Committee
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Volunteer Home Builder and Family Advocate, Habitat for Humanity, Seattle and Mongolia
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Volunteer phone worker, Seattle-King County Crisis Clinic
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Volunteer English teacher for refugees, International Rescue Committee
Education:
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Harvard Law School, J.D. 1973
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National Judicial College, Graduate 1990