Legal/Judicial Experience: Skagit County District Court Judge since 1999. Owner/partner in Burlington law firm Twede & Svaren for seventeen years. Burlington City Attorney.  Also represented Fire Protection District 6, Diking District 12, and numerous Skagit County businesses and persons in both civil and criminal matters.

Other Professional Experience: Past President of Washington State District and Municipal Court Judge’s Association.  Educator at Washington State Judicial College.  Member of Board of Judicial Administration and Judicial Information System Committee.

Education: Law Degree from Willamette University College of Law in 1981. Graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 1978 with Majors in English, Communication Arts, and Norwegian.

Community Service: No information submitted

Statement: David Svaren has served as a judge in Skagit County District Court for seventeen years and as presiding judge for eleven of those years. Because of his experience, his colleagues selected him to serve on the Board of Governors and as President of the Washington State District and Municipal Court Judges’ Association. Judge Svaren teaches new judges at the annual Washington State Judicial College.

He is a long time member of the Skagit County Law and Justice Committee and has long advocated for the new, larger Skagit County jail with room for rehabilitation programs. Judge Svaren has tirelessly worked to keep District Court current with new technology, including electronic search warrants and the current transition to a paperless records program. He is well versed in both civil and criminal law.

Judge Svaren is rated “exceptionally well qualified” by the Washington Women Lawyers and Washington State Veterans Bar Associations and is endorsed by Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney Rich Weyrich, Sheriff Will Reichardt, Law Enforcement Professionals Bonnie Bowers from Anacortes and Bill Van Wieringen from Burlington, and the Burlington Police Guild. Washington Supreme Court Justices Mary Fairhurst and Susan Owens and Court of Appeals Judge Steve Dwyer also endorse him.