Susan Owens

Susan Owens is an Associate Justice of the Washington Supreme Court. On November 7, 2000, she was elected the seventh woman to serve on the court. She joined the court after serving nineteen years as District Court Judge in Western Clallam County, where she was the county's senior elected official with five terms. She also served as the Quileute Tribe's Chief Judge for five years and Chief Judge of the Lower Elwha S'Klallam Tribe for more than six years.

Owens was born and raised in Kinston, North Carolina, where she graduated from high school. Her father, Frank Owens, was a small town general practitioner, and her mother, Hazel is a retired law enforcement officer. She attended college at Duke University. After graduation in 1971, she attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving her JD in 1975. She was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1975, and the Washington State Bar in 1976.