Samuel Chung ’85

The Hon. Samuel Chung ’85 will never forget meeting Roger Lehecka ’67, GSAS’74 and other student founders of the Double Discovery Center. Chung, then an undergraduate counselor, was struck by their determination in launching DDC in 1965.

“Their sense of excitement and enthusiasm is something that I’ve carried throughout my life,” says Chung, now a King County Superior Court judge in Washington State who hears cases in Seattle and the surrounding area.

Chung’s childhood also influenced his path. He emigrated from Seoul to New Jersey at 12 and grew up hearing about the issues immigrants in his community faced every day. After becoming an attorney and moving to Seattle for work, Chung started a pro bono clinic with other Korean-American attorneys, helping elderly and low-income Korean immigrants; he also was the founding president in 1993 of the Korean American Bar Association of Washington.

“I understand the difficulties of being a non-native English speaker and apprehension regarding the legal system, so I thought I could help give the Korean community a voice,” Chung says.

He worked in private practice until 2014, when he was appointed to the bench by then-governor Jay Inslee (D-Wash.). Before his final interview with Inslee, Chung visited the Korean War Memorial in Olympia, next to the state capitol. “It was a real honor to be interviewed for the position. My father was a Korean War veteran, so it was a reflective moment,” he says. “When I got the position, it was truly a grateful moment personally and a celebration for the community.”

Chung says that his formative experiences helped him develop the empathy he holds presiding over cases from felonies to family law. “At the end of the day, what the people of our county elected me to do is show that I care about the people who are before the court,” he says.

— Emily Dreihaus