Biography
Randy Gordon has served as an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law since 1999, teaching Products Liability and Remedies, and was honored three times as commencement speaker for the law school graduating class and three times as a class marshal. Randy served as faculty sponsor for the National Women Law Student's Association. In 2003, he received the Outstanding Faculty Award at Seattle University School of Law. Randy Gordon graduated Phi Beta Kappa with High Honors and High Distinction from the University of Michigan in 1975, being honored as a James B. Angell Scholar and receiving both the Branstrom Freshman Prize and the prestigious Hopwood Committee's Bain-Swiggett Prize for poetry. He earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1978, where he founded the still-operating freshman orientation program, was elected to the Board of Student Advisors, and served on the CIVIL RIGHTS-CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW REVIEW.
Professor Gordon was unanimously appointed by the King County Council to a vacancy in the Washington State Senate (41st Legislative District) in 2010. During his tenure in the State Senate, Senator Gordon prime sponsored seven bills, co-sponsored forty others, and wrote key language for an amendment to the Washington State Constitution, subsequently approved overwhelmingly by the people of Washington State. He returned to teaching at Seattle University School of Law immediately upon completion of his service in the Senate.
Randy Gordon has been practicing law in Washington State since 1978, serving as on the Board of Trustees, Vice President and President of the East King County Bar Association, as a Trustee on the King County Bar Association for the Eastside district, and a Governor on the Board of both the Washington State Association for Justice (8th District, Governor, 2001-2003) and Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) (8th District, Governor, 2003-2005). After service on the Professional Responsibility Committee and six terms as Special District Counsel, Randy Gordon served as a Hearing Officer for the State Bar in disciplinary matters until his service on the Board of Governors.
In 1998, Randy Gordon was awarded Washington State Association for Justice's Public Justice Award for his decade long efforts on behalf of injured workers in Birklid v. Boeing, a 1995 en banc (9-0) decision of the state Supreme Court changing Washington State law regarding employer liability for "deliberate" injury to workers as a result of toxic exposures. In 2001, he was twice honored: with the President's Award from WSBA for his work on the President's Initiative Team and the Professionalism Award from Washington State Association for Justice. Randy helped conceive the "Indian Law" edition of the Bar News and, as a member of the WSBA Board moved for the addition of Indian Law on the bar exam. He continues to promote understanding of alternative remedies in tribal courts by in his Remedies class.
Randy has published numerous articles including, most recently, as principal author examining efforts to change the civil justice system in the context of health care liability in the SEATTLE JOURNAL FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, (Spring-Summer 2006): "A Tale of Two Initiatives: Where Propaganda Meets Fact in The Debate Over America's Health Care." He has been a frequent writer on professionalism issues, including his article, "The Lawyer as Hero: A Pride of Lions, a Justice of Lawyers," Washington State Bar News, June 1999. Randy has been a volunteer at the Eastside Legal Assistance Program, providing no cost legal services to members of the community, since its inception in 1991. In addition to his teaching and writing, he currently serves as General Counsel for the USA-National Karate-do Federation (pro bono), the USOC-recognized national governing body for the sport and oversaw the redrafting of the Bylaws to incorporate paralympic competitions, and spearheaded the recent restructuring of the Federation under the auspices of the United States Olympic Committee. For this work and other matters, Randy was awarded the Federation's 2008 "Person of the Year" Award. Locally, Randy has been involved working with and instructing youth at the Washington State Karate Association.
