Faith Ireland

Justice Faith Ireland (Ret) was born September 15, 1942. She is married to William (Chuck) Norem. She works as an arbitrator, mediator and appellate consultant. She is a neutral for JAMS, the largest global provider of alternative dispute resolution, serving in Seattle. She is an American lawyer and former judge in the state of Washington. She was a county trial judge for 15 years before serving as an associate justice on the Washington Supreme Court from 1999 to 2005. Ireland is also a world champion powerlifter. Early life Faith Enyeart was born on September 15, 1942, Seattle, Washington. She was raised in neighboring Burien where she graduated from Highline High School in 1960. Following high school she attended the University of Washington in Seattle where she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1965. She then graduated from law school at Willamette University College of Law in 1969, earning a Juris Doctor from the Salem, Oregon, school. In law school she was one of only two women in her graduating class. While an undergraduate in college at the age of 22, the unmarried Ireland became pregnant with a daughter. After discussing the situation with her parents, she went to a special home for single mothers in Colorado where she gave birth. Ireland put the baby up for adoption, in what she called "...one of the worst things that ever happened in my life" and "the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life." She later joined an adoption registry and re-united with her then adult daughter in 1997. Since then she has enjoyed "finally being a mother, and now a grandmother to a wonderful young man." Ireland chose to speak out about the adoption as a Justice, saying "I wanted to help reduce some of the shame around issues of adoption and let young people know that you can be a birth parent and still go on and have a successful career and a successful life." Legal career Ireland entered private legal practice in Seattle at the law firm of McCune, Godfrey and Emerick where she worked from 1970 until 1973. In 1974, she started her own single practitioner firm in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood. Her firm, Faith Enyeart and Associates, handled legal issues from family law, personal injury, business law, tax, and criminal defense. While in private practice she returned to school and earned a master's of science degree in taxation from a satellite campus of Golden Gate University in Seattle in 1984, graduating with honors.