Washington County Judge Nachtigal earns court reform honor

The Beaverton Valley Times, Nov 20, 2009

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Washington County Circuit Court Judge Gayle A. Nachtigal will be inducted Friday into the National Center for State Courts’ Warren E. Burger Society during the organization’s annual recognition luncheon in Washington, D.C.

The Warren E. Burger Society honors individuals who have volunteered their time, talent and support to the organization in exceptional ways. It is named for the former chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who helped found the NCSC in 1971.

Nachtigal was appointed to Washington County’s Circuit Court bench in 1991, and served as the court’s presiding judge from 1996 to 2002. She also was a pro temp judge in Washington County Circuit and District Court from 1989 to 1991. Prior to her judicial service, Nachtigal was an attorney in private practice for three years and with the Oregon Department of Justice for five years. She began her legal career as the sole deputy district attorney in the Juvenile Department of the Washington County District Attorney’s Office in 1979.

Throughout her career, Nachtigal has volunteered her time and expertise to a number of professional organizations, including the American Judges Association, which she served as president, first vice president, second vice president and secretary; the American Judges Foundation; and the Oregon and Washington County Women Lawyer’s associations. She also served on the National Center’s Board of Directors from 1999 to 2005.

Nachtigal received her juris doctor from Northwest School of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Portland and her bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Burger Society inductees are selected by a committee led by Texas attorney Charles M. Noteboom, who commissioned a portrait of Chief Justice Burger that hangs in the group’s headquarters in Williamsburg, Va. Each inductee receives a limited edition of that portrait by the artist, Fran Di Giacomo.

The National Center for State Courts is a nonprofit court reform organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and service to the state courts. It provides education, training, technology, management and research services to the nation’s state courts.