Speaker Biography The Honorable Anne Levinson

Judge Anne Levinson (ret.) founded and presided over one of the country’s first mental health courts. Since leaving the bench, she has served as an advisor and subject matter expert, working with local and state governments, courts, prosecutors, civil legal aid, community-based organizations, and foundations on subjects including gender-based violence, gun violence prevention, child welfare and juvenile justice, campaign finance reform, and police accountability.

Building on her system reform work in the executive and judicial branches, research, and the experiences of those most impacted, Judge Levinson has led multi-disciplinary reviews and recommended ways to strengthen laws, policy, and training, ensure effective implementation, and reform systems to better achieve intended outcomes. She led a regional review of obstacles to more effective implementation and enforcement of Washington State’s laws authorizing courts to issue civil orders to relinquish and prohibit firearms when protection orders are issued. Her recommendations resulted in the creation of a first-of-its-kind in-the-nation regional unit, using an inter-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary harm reduction approach.

Judge Levinson also led the drafting and helped secure statutory reforms for Washington State’s civil protection order statutes, to improve efficacy and understanding, incorporate advances in technology allowing for electronic filing and online hearings, update the law to better reflect research and current case law, enhance procedures related to firearms relinquishment, and adopt consistent use of trauma-informed best practices for courts and practitioners statewide. She has partnered with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions on their national training and technical assistance work regarding gender-based violence, gun violence prevention, and protection orders.