Honorable Catherine McDowall

Term of Office: Jan. 2023 - Jan. 2027

Judge Catherine McDowall was appointed to the Seattle Municipal Court bench in September 2020. She was elected to her first full term as a Municipal Court Judge in 2022.  She previously served SMC as a Pro Tem Judge, from 2013 until her appointment as full-time judge in 2020. Judge McDowall received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, then attended the University of Virginia School of Law for her Juris Doctorate. She began her career in private practice doing civil litigation in Washington, D.C. before moving to Seattle, where she joined the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office as a deputy prosecutor in 1998, and was later promoted to senior deputy prosecutor. Judge McDowall has also served as a Pro Tem Judge in King County District Court and as a Pro Tem Commissioner at King County Superior Court, Juvenile Division.

Judge McDowall currently serves on the District and Municipal Court Judges Association (DMCJA) Board of Governors, and has been on the Board since June 2021.  She co-chairs the DMCJA Rules Committee and is a member of the DMCJA Bylaws Committee.  As co-director of the Seattle Youth Traffic Court, Judge McDowall helps to supervise this collaboration with Seattle University School of Law, Garfield High School, and the Seattle Police Department.  Seattle Youth Traffic Court uses a restorative justice model to help teach teens who have committed minor traffic violations how to be better drivers, and to educate teens about the legal system and civic duty.  

Outside the law, Judge McDowall has volunteered extensively with non-profit groups in her community, including church and school councils, as well as neighborhood little league programs. Her husband, John, is a lifelong Seattle resident, and they have four children.