Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday appointed two local attorneys to become state judges in Marion County, replacing two retiring judges.
Jim Edmonds, a Marion County native and managing partner in the Salem law firm Fetherston Edmonds, was appointed to immediately replace Circuit Judge Mary James.
Jodie Bureta, a former prosecutor who has been serving as a pro tem judge, was appointed to replace Circuit Judge Claudia Burton on March 11.
The governor said the two will take the bench in Marion County Circuit Court as the courts face a backlog of cases because of the pandemic.
According to Brown’s press release, Edmonds was born in Marion County and has spent his entire legal career in the area. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1982 and George Washington University Law School in 1986.
He was a civil litigator at the firm of Clark, Marsh, Lindauer and McClinton, eventually serving as managing partner. In 2008, he moved to the Fetherston Edmonds firm. There, he practices in business and commercial litigation.
Edmonds teaches alternative dispute resolution at the Willamette University College of Law and has volunteered with the Salem Multicultural Institution and with United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley, where he served on the board.
Bureta attended Gonzaga University and graduated from Willamette’s College of Law in 2003. She worked as a prosecutor in the Marion County District Attorney’s Office for 10 years, handling murder and sexual assault cases and rising to a trial team leader. In 2014, she moved to the state Justice Department, where she prosecuted elder abuse and Medicaid fraud cases.
In March 2020, she became a full-time pro tem judge and hearings referee in Marion County Circuit Court.
She has served on the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force and was an instructor at the Sexual Assault Training Institute.
She volunteered with the Baden-Powell Association, an national independent scouting program for youth and adults of all genders. She also has volunteered with Northwest Children’s Outreach.
-Les Zaitz
