Jack Nevin

Biography

Jack F. Nevin is a District Court Judge in Tacoma Washington. Judge Nevin holds the rank of Brigadier General the U.S. Army Reserve. Currently he serves in a “dual hatted” position, as Chief Judge of the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals and Commander US Army Reserve Legal Command (Provisional).

Judge Nevin has served as an international resource for emerging democracies. His work in the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, Central America, South America and Africa has helped emerging democracies create effective justice systems to sustain and support a representative system of government.

His Army career has included tours of duty in Asia, Europe, Central America South America and Hawaii. In 1999 Judge Nevin taught human rights in the east African country of Malawi, for the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies. In 2001 Judge Nevin served as Presiding Judge for the Detention Review Commission, United Nations Command, Kosovo. In 2002 he assisted the government of El Salvador in establishing its first victim witness assistance program. Most recently, Judge Nevin has focused his effort in the areas of post conflict governance, where in both civilian and military roles he has worked in areas ranging from the development of ethnically neutral bar examinations in Kosovo, to judicial training in Bosnia-Herzegovina and former Soviet Union. In 2005 he assisted the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in development of a new criminal code. He has lectured in Argentina on the development of Public Disclosure legislation. His most recent endeavors have included contributing to a long term project on reconstruction of the Iraqi Court System including the development of specialty courts and probation/ parole systems.

Judge Nevin is a 1996 graduate of the Air War College and 1998 graduate of the Army War College.

Prior to his appointment to the Washington State bench in January of 1997, Judge Nevin practice focused upon prosecution of organized criminal organizations, including investigation of public corruption. During his last six years of practice he represented municipalities in civil rights litigation, including police misconduct and municipal tort liability.

Judge Nevin has lectured nationally for the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Attorneys General, American Prosecutors Research Institute, the Washington State Bar Association, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and various state prosecutor organizations. He serves as faculty for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and the Washington State Judicial College. In 2002, Judge Nevin was chosen Washington State Judge of the Year by the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. In 2006 Judge Nevin was chosen Washington State Judge of the Year by the Washington State Misdemeanant Corrections Association.

Judge Nevin has taught on the undergraduate and graduate level for approximately twenty-four years. Currently, he serves as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at the Seattle University School of Law. Judge Nevin has lectured and published extensively in subjects ranging from military retirement benefits as community property to post conflict governance and the international law implications of military tribunals. He has written Montana’s Real Property Forfeiture Statute: Will it Pass Constitutional Muster? Volume 54 No. 1 Montana Law Review, Winter 1993 and Tellevik v. Real Property: Washington’s Constitutional Dilemma Volume 29 No. 2 of the Gonzaga Law Review, Spring 1994.

Judge Nevin is a graduate of Washington State University and holds an MBAJ.D. from Gonzaga University.