Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has appointed two new judges to Lane County’s Circuit Court.
Last year, Kotek signed a bill upping the number of Lane County judges from 15 to 17. On Friday, she announced she was choosing Allison Knight and Jessica May to fill the new seats.
May is a domestic relations attorney and a partner with Arnold Law in Eugene. She said she was raised in Lane County, and wants to have a greater impact on the community.
"When you're looking at the cases that actually go to trial, go to contested hearing, the majority of those are domestic relations," said May. "So I'll be able to jump into that work right away to assist our court in helping alleviate some of that workload."
Knight, the lead mental health attorney with Public Defender Services of Lane County, said she has experience training and supervising lawyers, and a background in mental health advocacy and legislation. She said she'll bring that knowledge to this new position.
"People come to court after breakdowns in mental health or or other healthcare treatment systems all the time," Knight told KLCC on Friday. "There is a real need for judges that have a holistic understanding of mental illness—and the treatment systems, different stakeholders and community members that are involved locally."
Knight said with two extra judges, the court will be able to pay better attention to each matter that comes before it. She said Lane County prides itself on moving cases through the system quickly—but that can be overwhelming.
"There’s a hit to the quality of work you’re able to do if you’re doing too much work too fast," said Knight. "Increasing the capacity creates space to invest more time needed to make sure the right result comes about."
The bill Kotek signed last year also added a new judge to Douglas County's Circuit Court. In December, the Governor announced she was giving that seat to Cadence Whiteley, an attorney at Dole Coalwell in Roseburg.
And in Clackamas County, the bill created two more judge positions. On Friday, Kotek said she was appointing Michelle Bartov, a criminal defense attorney, to one of them.
Kotek's office said these appointments are effective Jan. 1. Knight and May told KLCC they will step into their roles later this month.
