OLYMPIA — The head of the torts division in the state Attorney General’s Office is seeking a seat on the state Court of Appeals.
Michael P. Lynch, 48, of Olympia has announced his candidacy for the Division II position, which is elected by voters in Clallam and Jefferson counties, as well as those of Kitsap, Mason, Thurston and Grays Harbor counties.
Others who have announced candidacy for the position are Thomas Bjorgen, an Olympia lawyer; Pam Loginsky of Port Orchard, who works as a staff lawyer for the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and also ran unsuccessfully for Supreme Court in 2002; and Thomas Weaver, a criminal defense and personal injury lawyer from the Bremerton area.
Formal candidate filings for the fall campaigns are from May 14-18. The top-two primary is Aug. 7, and the general election is Nov. 6.
Lynch said he has more than 30 years’ legal experience in a broad range of civil, criminal and employment law.
“Broad experience is key to the Court of Appeals,” Lynch said.
“This court is the unglamorous workhorse of our judicial system,” he said, adding that at any given time, he oversees between 50 and 70 appellate cases in the Attorney General’s Office.
Lynch said he has served as lead counsel on more than 1,000 cases in all three divisions of the state Court of Appeals, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the state Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
He is endorsed by former Congresswomen Jolene Unsoeld, a Democrat who served from 1989 to 1995.
