Gov. Jay Inslee appointed André Peñalver today to the Pierce County Superior Court. He will fill a newly created judicial position on the court.
Peñalver has served as an assistant United States attorney in Tacoma since 2015, where he prosecutes complex white collar crime, drug and firearm cases in the office’s General Crimes Unit. He has also served as a disciplinary hearings officer for the Washington State Bar Association for the past three years. Previously, Peñalver was a civil litigator for five years, first at Gordon Thomas Honeywell in Tacoma and later at Stokes Lawrence in Yakima.
Peñalver has deep roots in Pierce County, where his family has lived for five generations and where he is a frequent volunteer. In recent years, Peñalver has received Tacoma’s City of Destiny Award and the Washington State Bar Association’s Public Service & Leadership Award; and he was named Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association’s Volunteer Attorney of the Year.
“André is a talented attorney and I am thrilled that he will continue his career in public service,” Inslee said. “He has a breadth of professional experience that has prepared him well for the bench, and his civic-mindedness will serve the court and the Pierce County community well into the future.”
Peñalver earned his law degree from Cornell Law School and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.